Is There A Future for Primates?
- Angela Findlay
- Feb 21, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 8, 2021
Ugandan red colobus (Procolobus tephrosceles) Kihingami Wetland, Uganda. Image credit: Charles J Sharp / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
In autumn 2020, a prominent figure in conservation, biology, and primatology presented his research in one of our online seminars at Bangor University.
Dr Colin Chapman from George Washington University, has spent 30+ years at the Kibale National Park in Uganda researching the role of disease, nutrition, stress, and climate change on primate abundance.
He began highlighting global deforestation and the loss of rainforest habitat.
Between 2000 & 2012, 2.3 million square km was lost globally, this could have supported 15 million primates.
861,000,000 metric tonnes of Carbon released each year
6 million hectares per year lost through logging
Devastating for animal biodiversity
“In Kibale the biggest problem is snare trapping, it is indiscriminate, and many primates are injured or killed”
Video: The Kibale Chimpanzee Project snare removal program
In the Amazon 4 million primates consumed per year from bushmeat worth $42m and in the Congo 4 million tons of bushmeat consumed and an estimated 25,000 tons arrive in USA, globally worth $1b per year.
Bushmeat brings zoonotic diseases like Ebola, related to population decline in primates, 89% chimps & 56% gorillas.
Colin then moved on to discuss his long-term research at Kibale from 1989 to 2018. Whilst monitoring changes in forest composition, he found that:
Primates drive change by eating all the Markhamia lutea flowers
No flowers, no fruit, and no primates
Elephant densities increased in 2005, moved in from the Congo, stripped bark, and damaged hundreds of tree seedlings.
Changing climate in Kibale
300mm more rainfall per year & early onset
Less frequent droughts
Increase in average maximum monthly temperature
More rain and less fruit overall, not determined a cause in individual species of tree
Wet conditions allow more parasite eggs to persist
Plant chemistry changes
Abundant food around the Dura river but no colobus? it was discovered that the quality of the leaves was poor in protein.
Overall impact on primates
Data gathered from an earlier study 1970-1987 plotted with his data, found an increase in populations of all primate species. He predicted populations of folivore would decrease due to poor food quality, but the opposite is happening, there is more research to do in this area.
Ongoing solutions
· Enforcement needs maintaining to tackle poachers.
· Education projects and TRAINING.
· Research stations are a huge source of revenue for parks and education
· Money goes to locals
· Ecotourism
Amazing work
Colin collaborated with the Carbon off-set project and suggested species of tree for the colobus, after 20 years these forests have been restored.
Life expectancy in the area is very low with the nearest hospital 10km away. Funds were raised from benefit dinners held by students in North America to enable the building of a local clinic. Colin obtained a grant to fund a mobile clinic delivering healthcare to 12,000 people per year around the park.
“Get involved and do something you enjoy!”
My Thoughts
Interesting talk which took me down the rabbit hole of climate change, I have made some personal changes in my own life because of this. This has really piqued my interest.
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