primates
Saving for the future
Primates are among the most endangered species on Earth,
but responsible travel can help change this, writes Joanna Booth
If you’d like your kids to be able to see an orangutan or a gorilla in the wild, things need to change. If you haven’t seen one yourself, you’d be playing it safe to book something sooner rather than later. The stark reality is that our primates are in grave danger. “More than half of primates are now threatened,” says Global Wildlife Conservation’s primate conservation director, Anthony Rylands. “Hunting and the degradation, fragmentation and loss of their habitats are devastating their populations worldwide.” A list of the Earth’s 25 most endangered primates features
six types of lemur, the Grauer’s gorilla and, for the first time, the Bornean orangutan, as a result of the dramatic loss of its forests to fire and palm oil plantations. If you took all the remaining individuals from those 25 species, it wouldn’t fill the seats of a large football stadium. From donating to primate conservation charities to checking whether
products you use are made from sustainable palm oil (at the WWF website
palmoilscorecard.panda.org), there are changes individuals can make to help. And as an industry, by selling responsible travel experiences, we can also help to reverse the terrible trend of destruction.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Some operators have overt links to charitable or scientific organisations, giving clients peace of mind that they’re making a positive contribution. G Adventures has partnered with and donated to the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada since 2016. The world-famous primate conservationist has endorsed the operator’s animal welfare policy, and reviewed the 20 trips - including 12 new itineraries added for 2020 - that feature in its Jane Goodall Collection. There are options to see gorillas and chimps in Uganda; lemurs in Madagascar; spider, howler and capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica; and orangutans, proboscis monkeys, macaques and gibbons in Borneo. Rainbow Tours is collaborating with one of the nominees for this year’s Tusk Conservation
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