Ape extinction, particularly great apeextinction, is one of the most widely held biodiversity concerns. Recent primate extinctions (notably that of Miss Waldron's Red Colobus) after a long period of no such losses, and the rise of the African bushmeat trade, have sparked concerns that human beings may be eliminating their nearest genetic and social relatives.
Because some apes are classified as hominids, and politically some consider them persons many consider this genocide. That legal and political issue is treated in another article on ape genocide.
The facts are, that there are very few breeding populations of the gorilla, bonobo, chimpanzee or orang-utan outside captivity, and all such populations are not only formally classified as endangered species, but in the direct path of human deforestation and Indonesia and the Congo. They are also hunted by man, as part of the growing African "bushmeat" trade, which has spread to African cities.
Apeextinction, particularly great apeextinction, is one of the most widely held biodiversity concerns.
Recent primate extinctions (notably that of Miss Waldron's Red Colobus) after a long period of no such losses, and the rise of the African bushmeat trade, have sparked concerns that human beings may be eliminating their nearest genetic and social relatives.
The facts are that there are very few breeding populations of the gorilla, bonobo, chimpanzee or orang-utan outside captivity, and all such populations are not only formally classified as endangered species, but in the direct path of human deforestation and development, especially in Indonesia and the Congo.
Laboratory studies of ape language ability began to reveal other human traits, as did genetics, and eventually three of the great apes were reclassified as hominids.
Apegenocide is a political term referring simultaneously to apeextinction, breakdown in ape social groups, and the fact that scientists classify some apes as hominid, in the same family as man. Accordingly, many believe that the extermination of these near-human species is politically and socially equivalent to genocide as defined by the United Nations.
As apeextinction due to the bushmeat trade began to cause social groups of apes to disintegrate, losing many key adult members (according to researchers close to these groups) and leaving many ape children orphaned, pressure mounted to save these species.
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