Why Are Lemurs Endangered? The World's Most Threatened Primates

How endangered are lemurs?

Lemurs live only on Madagascar and the nearby Comoro Islands, so every species depends on the fate of one country’s forests. In its 2020 Red List update, the IUCN classified 103 of the 107 lemur species then assessed as threatened, meaning Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered. Thirty-three were Critically Endangered, the last step before extinction in the wild. Later reviews have found an equally grim picture.

No other large group of mammals has such a high share of threatened species. Many lemurs live in a single river basin or patch of forest, so losing one valley of trees can push a species to the edge.

Forest loss: the biggest threat

Habitat destruction is the main reason lemurs are in trouble. A 2018 study combining satellite data with historical maps estimated that Madagascar lost about 44% of its natural forest between 1953 and 2014, and much of what remains is broken into small fragments.

Several pressures drive this loss:

• Slash-and-burn farming. Called tavy in Madagascar, it means clearing and burning forest to plant rice and other crops. After a few seasons the soil is exhausted and farmers move on to new forest.
• Cattle grazing. Grasslands are burned each year to produce fresh grass for zebu cattle, and fires often spread into forest edges.
• Charcoal and firewood. Most households cook with wood or charcoal, so trees around towns and villages are cut steadily.
• Logging and mining. Valuable hardwoods such as rosewood and ebony have been logged illegally, even inside national parks, and mining clears forest in some regions.

Most of these pressures are rooted in poverty. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, and many rural families have few other ways to earn a living.

Hunting for bushmeat

Lemurs are also hunted for food. Local traditions called fady forbid hunting certain species in some villages, and these taboos have protected lemurs for generations. But fady vary from place to place, and they tend to break down when people move to a new region or face famine. Larger, slower species such as sifakas and indris are especially vulnerable. Hunting continues in some protected areas, where it can empty forests that still look intact.

The illegal pet trade

Capturing wild lemurs as pets is illegal, yet researchers have found lemurs kept as pets in homes, hotels and restaurants across Madagascar. Ring-tailed lemurs and brown lemurs are among the species most often kept. Captured animals are taken from their troops, often as babies, and many die from poor conditions. Tourists can unknowingly support this trade by paying to hold or photograph pet lemurs.

International trade is tightly controlled. All lemurs are listed in CITES Appendix I, which bans commercial trade in wild-caught animals.

Drought and climate change

Southern Madagascar is prone to severe droughts, and climate change is expected to make rainfall less predictable. Droughts reduce the fruit and leaves lemurs eat and can kill many infants and females. At Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, a drought in 1991 and 1992 caused a decline of about 31% in the local ring-tailed lemur population, which took years to recover. As forests shrink, lemurs also lose the ability to move to cooler or wetter places.

Which lemurs are most at risk?

The ring-tailed lemur shows that even a familiar, widespread species can decline fast. A 2017 survey of 32 sites counted only about 2,000 animals. Other researchers argued that the real total is larger, but there is broad agreement that wild numbers have fallen sharply.

What is being done to save lemurs?

Conservation in Madagascar works best when it benefits local people. In 2013, lemur specialists published an emergency action plan focused on community-run forest management, ecotourism and long-term research stations. National parks such as Ranomafana, created in 1991 after the discovery of the golden bamboo lemur, bring tourists, jobs and research funding to the area.

Other projects replant native trees to reconnect forest fragments, support patrols against illegal logging and hunting, and promote alternative fuels and farming methods. Zoos in Europe and North America manage breeding programs for many lemur species and help fund field work through groups such as the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group and the Duke Lemur Center. To understand why lemurs exist only on this one island, read Where do lemurs live?.

Why saving lemurs matters

Lemurs are found nowhere else, so losing them in Madagascar means losing them forever. They also matter to the forests themselves: many fruit-eating lemurs disperse the seeds of large-fruited trees that few other animals can swallow. Protecting lemurs means protecting the forests, rivers and soils that millions of Malagasy people depend on.