article for apes getting extinct
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The largest primate on Earth – the eastern gorilla – is now “critically endangered”, it has been officially announced after a staggering decline in their population in just 20 years. The decision by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) means that four out of the six great apes – both types of gorilla and both types of orangutan – are feared to be on the brink of extinction.
It would perhaps not be surprising if they were to die out. Of more than 82,000 species assessed by the IUCN, nearly 30 per cent are facing that fate – almost entirely because of the actions of humans.
The new critically endangered classification for the eastern lowland gorilla, also known as Grauer's gorilla, was announced at the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Hawaii after researchers found its population had fallen by at least 77 per cent in just two decades.
Humanity's population expansion is the main cause for the extinction threat, with 5 billion humans living in countries with primates. Habitat loss due to logging, mining and agriculture; hunting; the illegal pet trade; and climate change are all top reasons for the decline of apes.
We must protect our environment in order to protect us as we well as plants and animal diversity...