{"id":2189126,"date":"2025-11-29T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2189126"},"modified":"2025-11-27T14:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:37:18","slug":"the-worlds-lemurs-are-going-extinct-this-is-the-only-way-to-save-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/the-worlds-lemurs-are-going-extinct-this-is-the-only-way-to-save-them\/","title":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s lemurs are going extinct. This is the only way to save them."},"content":{"rendered":"

On a cloudless morning in September, sunlight poured through the canopy of a banyan tree near the banks of the Onilahy River, which runs from southwest Madagascar to the Indian Ocean. The tree grew on the edge of a small karst cliff. Its roots spilled over the side like melting candle wax.<\/p>\n

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A large banyan tree grows on a rock ledge near the village of Mahaleotse, in southwest Madagascar. Garth Cripps for Vox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I scrambled up the cliff for a better view of the canopy, when I saw something staring back at me: a lemur. It had scruffy white fur, a black face with bug-eyes, and a tail that was at least the length of its body. This wasn\u2019t just any lemur; it was a Verreaux\u2019s sifaka: a critically endangered species that I\u2019ve spent much of my life longing to see.<\/p>\n

Madagascar, an island nation east of continental Africa, is the only place on Earth where lemurs exist. There are more than 100 lemur species, and nearly all of them are at risk of extinction, including the sifaka. Their foe is deforestation; all lemurs depend on trees for food and shelter, and half or more of the country\u2019s forests are now gone.<\/p>\n

In Madagascar, unlike in many other forested nations, the bulk of deforestation isn\u2019t caused by the industrial-scale farming and cattle ranching that often enriches big corporations. Forests here are primarily felled by individual families who cut trees to grow crops or collect cooking fuel. That\u2019s how many people feed themselves and make money. They often have few other options; Madagascar ranks among the top five poorest countries in the world, and people here have few economic opportunities that don\u2019t rely on exploitation.<\/p>\n