Man and His Methods: the Cause and Solution to Reduction in the Primate Population

Man and His Methods: the Cause and Solution to Reduction in the Primate Population

The theory of evolution is taught to students in classrooms all across the world. It states that living beings change through generations and thus separate species are related to one another, some more than others. Acceptance of evolution is sometimes accompanied by the knowledge that humans and chimpanzees share [significantly] more than 50% of their DNA. (Miller et al 2006). Homo sapiens evolved from other primates as the result of countless selection factors and cycles. Scientists Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar (2002) state that humans have become a selection factor for a variety of life forms that would not be at risk for death and/or extinction were it not for direct and indirect human activity. Those affected include some of our closest relatives, whose presence in large and small scale ecological, economical and cultural systems make their near disappearances and its prevention worthy of special attention (Colishaw and Dunbar 2002). Immediate threats to primates in the wild include capture and trade of live and dead primates and shortages of suitable food and living space (Chapman and Peres 2001). These problems, regardless of the amount of direct human involvement, are augmented by modern technology’s impact on third world economies and a lack of shared, researched information and understanding of the problems facing primates by those in a position to affect them in beneficial and detrimental ways. Ultimately a careful human focus on regulating and preserving primate life is needed in order to negate the manmade factors that resulted in the lowered population.

Habitat and food shortages are interconnected because the destruction of the former typically ruins or limits access to the latter. The vast majority of all primate species are found in tropical regions, living dependant on rapidly disappearing forests. Trees act as a source of food and shelter for a great...