麻豆社

60% of the world鈥檚 primates could become extinct 鈥渨ithin our lifetime鈥� because of human activities, according to one of the co-authors of a new study.

An international assessment published in the journal Science Advances says one of the main reasons is deforestation, which is destroying the habitats of lemurs, apes, lorises and monkeys.

Dr Jo Setchell, Professor of Anthropology at Durham University and one of the co-authors of the report said 鈥渢here has to be hope that we can protect the primates.鈥�

She said: 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 take long to destroy a rainforest, but it takes hundreds and hundreds of years to bring it back.鈥�

鈥淚f humans became the only primate, that would be unthinkable,鈥� she added.

Worst affected is the Aye Aye lemur, most of the population of which is endangered.

This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on Thursday 19 January 2017.