Uniworld Boutique River Cruises unveils what’s new for 2024Myanmar is home to 20 species of primates, making it the seventh most primate-rich country in Asia. However, a new study shows that all species are suffering population declines, with 90% of them threatened with extinction.
Gibbons are celebrated in some of the most significant folk tales in Myanmar. The telling and retelling of stories portraying the lithe and charismatic primates as forest spirits emblematic of pristine environments has spared them from being poached from the wild in some parts of the country.
Deforestation, habitat degradation, and hunting for subsistence and to supply the illegal wildlife trade are the main threats, according to the study published inabounds in Myanmar amid the lack of governance, accountability and regulation following the February 2021 military coup that precipitated an increase in natural resource extraction in many areas, particularly in heavily forested border regions that represent some of the country’s highest-quality refuges for wildlife.
“There is clearly a lot of expertise about primatology within Myanmar,” Cheyne told Mongabay. “A lot of research has still been possible.” However, due to a lack of national funding for conservation from the Myanmar government and the reticence of many international donors to fund projects in the country because of the political situation, “this expertise that exists is largely unsupported.”