Lemurs on the 'verge of extinction'

Worlds experts in lemurs said that there is an imminent extinction threat against the primitive primates.

17:24 21 February 2014

According to experts, lemurs are now the world’s most threatened mammal group.

Some of the world’s top experts in the mammals said that there is an imminent extinction threat to the primitive primates that live only in Madagascar. Because of this, they have proposed a three-year plan to save the species.

Christoph Schwitzer, head of research at the Bristol Zoological Society in Britain who led a team of 19 scientists that drafted the emergency lemur preservation plan, said: “Extinctions could begin very soon if nothing is done.”

"One cyclone or other natural event could wipe out the entire population. In fact, anybody who decides to go out lemur hunting could tip the species over the edge.”

"I would certainly not want to tell my children in 10 or 20 years time, when they are old enough to travel to Madagascar, 'Look, this island was once inhabited by creatures called lemurs, but they have gone extinct because your dad, along with many others, was unable to avert their extinction at the time'".