Families, please type "Protect Human Relatives" on the public screen

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Produced by: Luan Miaomiao (Institute of Ecological Innovation, Lanzhou University)

Producer: Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Primates are a mirror of humans in the animal world, and they are the animals that are most closely related to humans. However, with the development of social economy, the survival of primates has been seriously challenged, and it is urgent to find new ideas and methods to better protect them.

Humankind's closest relatives: Primates that love to spread seeds

In biological classification, humans and primates belong to the same family, Hominidae. For example, the difference between chimpanzees and us in the genome is only about 1%, which means that humans and chimpanzees share about 99% of their genes, which also makes them similar to humans in many behaviors such as expression and cognition.

For example, when chimpanzees encounter a group of baboons, they will pick up stones on the ground and throw them at the baboons, while shouting and stomping their feet. Their purpose is to drive away the baboons by intimidation. This is exactly the same as the behavior of humans throwing stones to intimidate when they are attacked by a pack of dogs.

In addition, studies have shown that chimpanzees, like humans, have the ability to recognize the three primary colors, and trained chimpanzees even far surpass adult humans in short-term memory ability.

Chimpanzees, one of humans' closest relatives (Photo credit: Veer Gallery)

Not only that, primates play a vital role in the ecosystem, such as spreading seeds to maintain forest regeneration.

There are three main ways for primates to spread seeds. The most important way is through the digestive tract, that is, the animals swallow the seeds and then excrete them, contributing to the reproduction of plants through this "smell" method. At the same time, researchers have observed that some monkeys will discard seeds after eating the flesh. This "eating and throwing" method can also achieve the purpose of seed dispersal.

What is special is that primates of the genera Macaques and Cercopithecus temporarily store the fruits in their cheek pouches when eating them, and process the fruits and spit out the seeds at a location far away from the fruit trees. This is another way for primates to spread seeds.

Why is this seemingly random "littering of fruit seeds" important to the ecosystem? Because macaques and howler monkeys can move in open areas or isolated areas where other non-primate fruit eaters cannot live, promoting seed dispersal and helping the restoration of degraded habitats and secondary succession of forests.

Macaque (Photo credit: Veer Gallery)

Danger, danger! The current situation of primates is not optimistic

However, the survival of human relatives in the animal kingdom is not optimistic. On Earth, the survival of more than 60% of primates is threatened, and they are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions.

China is home to 27 species of primates, including slow lorises, macaques, leaf monkeys, gibbons, golden monkeys, etc. China attaches great importance to the protection of primates, and all primates are protected species of level II or above.

However, even though great importance is attached to protection, with the development of social economy, human impact on the natural environment has indirectly threatened the survival of primates.

Recently, an article titled "Investment in science can mitigate the negative impacts of land use on declining primate populations" published by Zhao Xumao's research group at Lanzhou University analyzed the impact of several factors on the changes in the number of primates in China from 1980 to 2015, including changes in land use, poverty levels in primate habitats, population growth, government scientific investment in primate protection, and public attention. The results showed that of the 21 existing primate species in China, 16 (76%) have experienced a decline in population in the past.

The structural equation model that directly or indirectly affects the changes in primate populations shows that NSFC (Natural Science Foundation of China) and PAs (number of primate protected areas) are positively correlated with primate population changes; Cropland/Pasture, that is, the annual changes in cultivated land and pasture per square kilometer, are negatively correlated with primate population changes; there is insufficient statistical evidence for the relationship between Class (the protection level of each primate in China), Baidu (the number of times the public searches for the scientific name and common name of each primate through the Internet platform Baidu), Grazing (annual changes in grassland area per square kilometer), and Human-pop (annual changes in population density in each county) and population changes.

(Image source: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23302)

Over the past 40 years, the conservation of primates in China has faced severe challenges, mainly due to the impacts of land use changes and the squeeze on primate habitats caused by population growth.

Many primates live in primary forests, such as gibbons, and once the forests are destroyed, they will lose their homes.

What's even more difficult is that gibbons will not choose a home that has been destroyed but then restored. After a forest is cut down, even if it recovers 50 years later, gibbons will not choose it as their main habitat. my country did not actually implement a logging ban until the late 1990s.

Gibbon (Photo credit: Veer Gallery)

In addition, although my country currently prohibits arbitrary deforestation, human activities around protected areas, such as gathering, grazing, and crop planting, will still affect the lives of animals in the protected areas, bringing serious impacts on the survival and reproduction of primates.

What should we do to protect primates?

In the protection of wild animals, we have always emphasized minimizing human interference and allowing them to live in their natural state. But nowadays, human footprints are almost all over the world, and many areas where wild animals live are inevitably disturbed.

It is important to emphasize that although we often hear that human activities can lead to the destruction of wildlife habitats, a decline in numbers, or even extinction, human activities do not bring all negative impacts to wildlife.

On the other hand, some wild animals that are better protected mostly live in artificially built protected areas. As of 2017, the number of nature reserves in my country has exceeded 2,500, accounting for about 15% of the country's land area. A large number of endangered wild animals such as giant pandas, Siberian tigers, and golden monkeys have been effectively protected. As for giant pandas, as of the end of 2013, the number of wild giant pandas has exceeded 1,800, and the number of captive ones is close to 400. In the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union, the threat level of the wild giant panda population has changed from "endangered" to "vulnerable". It can be seen that my country's nature reserves have achieved remarkable results in the protection of biodiversity and are of great significance.

Therefore, under the current circumstances, if wild animals want to survive and reproduce better, they still need the help of humans and, through human protection, allow primates and humans to live in harmony.

However, it must be acknowledged that, at present, the ability of macro-conservation is still limited. In contrast, the conservation situation of animals that receive less attention, such as slow loris, is still not optimistic.

Previously, slow lorises were often captured for medicinal purposes, which led to a reduction in their numbers. Slow lorises are mainly distributed in the forest areas of poor counties in Yunnan. Villagers destroyed forests and reclaimed wasteland for their livelihoods, causing serious damage to their habitats. Currently, only a very small number of individuals are seen in western and southern Yunnan.

Slow loris (Photo credit: animals.net)

In addition, there are a group of primates, such as leaf monkeys, which have received little attention and are in a precarious situation. Over the years, they have been hunted and have become a rare primate as the quality and area of ​​their habitat have declined.

These species, which neither receive much public attention nor receive much scientific research, face a more critical situation. First, their background data is not clear enough; second, they rarely receive conservation resources, so they are in urgent need of protection!

Langur (Photo credit: Veer Gallery)

Land use has seriously squeezed the living space of primates, but establishing nature reserves and raising public awareness of wildlife protection can alleviate the negative impact of land use on the survival of China's primate populations.

From a national perspective, my country attaches great importance to wildlife protection, repeatedly emphasizing that "green waters and green mountains are invaluable assets", and implementing a series of measures such as "returning farmland to forests and grasslands" to promote the construction of ecological civilization and protect the habitats of wildlife.

From the perspective of society and individuals, people no longer poach or eat wild animals just to satisfy their own illegal interests and curiosity. Policies and laws related to wildlife protection have also been gradually improved, and all kinds of poaching and eating of wild animals have been severely cracked down.

Of course, if we want to better protect wild animals, we should further enhance the public's awareness of wildlife protection and increase publicity for wildlife protection. Relevant government departments should also fulfill their responsibilities, improve various policies and laws on wildlife protection, build a comprehensive wildlife protection system, and provide policy and related financial support to effectively promote the smooth progress of various wildlife protection work.

Therefore, we have reason to believe that through high attention and long-term efforts to protect wildlife, in the near future, wildlife will inevitably coexist harmoniously with humans. Whether it is chimpanzees, golden monkeys or leaf monkeys, primate wildlife, as an important part of biodiversity, supports the natural system and maintains the original ecological balance.

Protecting our close relatives means protecting humanity itself.

References:

1. Ma Shilai, Wang Yingxiang. Distribution, current status and conservation of modern primates in China[J]. Acta Theriologica Sinica, 1988(04): 250-260.

2. Chen Yuan, Wang Zheng, Xiang Zuofu. The role of primates in plant seed dispersal[J]. Biodiversity Science, 2017, 25(03): 325-331.

3. Suntsova, Maria., Buzdin, Anton. (2020). Differences between human and chimpanzee genomes and their implications in gene expression, protein functions and biochemical properties of the two species. BMC genomics. 21. 535. 10.1186/s12864-020-06962-8.

4. avid, A, Hamburg. (1971). Aggressive behavior of chimpanzees and baboons in natural habitats. Journal of Psychiatric Research. Volume 8, Issues 3–4, Pages 385-398. ISSN 0022-3956. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(71)90032-X.

5. Wu, Ruidong ., Possingham, Hugh., Yu, Guangzhi ., Jin, Tong ., Wang, Junjun ., Yang, Feiling ., Liu, Shiliang ., Ma, Jianzhong., Liu, Xi ., Zhao, Haiwei. (2019). Strengthening China's national biodiversity strategy to attain an ecological civilization. Conservation Letters. 12. e12660. 10.1111/conl.12660.

6. Xu, J., Zhang, Z., Liu, W., & McGowan, P. (2012). A review and assessment of nature reserve policy in China: Advances, challenges and opportunities. The International Journal of Conservation, 46(4), 554-562. doi:10.1017/S0030605311000810

7. Pene, CHM., Muramatsu, A., Matsuzawa, T., (2020). Color discrimination and color preferences in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Primates. 61(3):403-413. doi: 10.1007/s10329-020-00790-w.