Ape extinction, particularly great ape extinction, is one of the most widely held biodiversity concerns.
There are very few breeding populations of non-human great apes outside captivity, and all such populations are not only formally classified as endangered species, but in the direct path of human deforestation and development, especially in Indonesia and the Congo. They are also hunted by humans, as part of the growing African "bushmeat" trade, which has spread to African cities. Wars and civil unrest, e.g. in the Congo basin, play a role in making effective conservation measures risky or even impossible.
As extinction has caused social groups of apes to disintegrate, losing many key adult members (according to researchers close to these groups) and leaving many ape children orphaned, pressure has also mounted to save these species.
The United Nations appointed Jane Goodall, the primatologist most closely associated with chimpanzees and author of many longitudinal studies of chimp life over a forty-year period, as an Ambassador.
Recently in August 2008, in the northern part of the Republic of Congo, 125,000 Western lowland gorillas were alive and well. This is good news for the conservation of Western Lowland gorillas as their numbers were declining rapidly. They are however still vulnerable to hunting for bush meat and ebola.
The current mass extinction, in general, is called the Holocene extinction.
| Species | Estimated number |
|---|---|
| Sumatran Orangutan | 6,667[1] |
| Bornean Orangutan | 61,234[1] |
| Western Gorilla | 200,000[2] |
| Eastern Gorilla | 6,000[2] |
| Common Chimpanzee | 100,000[3] |
| Bonobo | 10,000[3] |
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