Over half of primates on brink of extinction

More than half the world's primates, including apes, lemurs and monkeys, are facing extinction, international experts warned, as they called for urgent action to protect mankind's closest living relatives.

The population crunch is the result of large-scale habitat destruction -- particularly the burning and clearing of tropical forests -- as well as the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade.

Species long-known to be at risk, including the Sumatran orangutan, have been joined on the most endangered list for the first time by the Philippine tarsier and the Lavasoa Mountains dwarf lemur from Madagascar, scientists meeting in Singapore said.

"This research highlights the extent of the danger facing many of the world's primates," leading primatologist Christoph Schwitzer, director of conservation at Bristol Zoological Society in Britain, said in a statement.

"We hope it will focus people's attention on these lesser known primate species, some of which most people will probably have never heard of."

This includes the Lavasoa Mountains dwarf lemur -- a species only discovered two years ago -- and the Roloway monkey from Ghana and Ivory Coast, which experts say "are on the very verge of extinction".

There are 703 species and sub-species of primates in the world.

Russell Mittermeier, chair of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said he hoped the report would encourage governments to commit to "desperately needed biodiversity conservation measures".

Mittermeier said ahead of next month's global climate conference in Paris, there was growing evidence some primate species might play key roles in dispersing tropical forest tree seeds, which in turn "have a critically important role in mitigating climate change".