Primatewatching

Of all of the wild animals we share our only home with, humans often feel a profound emotional connection the other primates. Yet more than 60% of species are already endangered, and 75% of them have declining populations. Primate-based ecotourism that provides income to the communities living near to the animals – communities who can play a major role in conserving them – may be the only effective tool at our disposal to ensure the survival of many species.

Russell A. Mittermeier, Chief Conservation Officer, Re:wild; and chair IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group

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Why primates? They are our closest relatives and species like gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans are some of the well-known and well-loved animals.

Gorilla watching is a huge industry and has been operating for over 40 years. In 2006 Mountain gorilla tourism was the number one foreign currency earner in Rwanda. There are over 500 primate species and many are stunning including the Douc Langurs of Vietnam, Proboscis Monkeys on Borneo, the lemurs of Madagascar and the tamarins of South America. Some are easy to see, while others like the Owl-faced Monkey are so rare, shy and secretivethey are unlikely to be seen by anyone other than the most dedicated mammalwatcher. Taxonomists have revealed that primate diversity is much greater than previously thought, with many new species of South American monkeys and lemurs identified in the past 20 years. And the last large African mammal discovery was a primate – the Kipunji monkey – which is endemic to the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

So it is little wonder that primates are a natural focus for mammalwatchers. But this is more than a hobby. A major reason to promote primatewatching is the potential conservation benefits it could bring.

Imagine what it could mean for conservation if primates got even a fraction of the attention birds do. In the USA alone, an estimated US$17 billion is spent each year spent on bird-watching travel to destinations in the USA and abroad. In 2016, nearly 300,000 birdwatchers visited Alaska alone, spending US$378 million and supporting about 4,000 jobs. An estimated 150,000 bird-watchers will visit Colombia from the United States alone over the next decade, generating US$47 million annually and sustaining 7,500 new jobs.

If you are on this website you probably already know how much fun watching primates can be. But it is much more than just entertainment. Primatewatching can stimulate awareness of primates: species which are often flagship animals for the dwindling habitats they live in. This is particularly true in countries like Madagascar, where lemur watching is an important tourism attraction, so helping to maintain the protected area network. This in turn can stimulate economic development in communities surrounding the protected area to create a positive loop, with those communities helping to ensure these species are valued and have a future. One example of a locally-based tourism operation is the Community Guides Network in Analamazoatra Community Reserve next to Andasibe NP in Madagascar. Over 30 local guides are employed to take visitors to see the Indri.

We need to go and see these creatures in their natural environments, spend time with the communities upon whose survival they ultimately depend, share our excitement and enthusiasm, and, ultimately, contribute to the local economy.

Resources

Primatewatching Guidelines

Primatewatching – Field guides help when you encounter a primate in the field. Travel guides help you get around. But neither help you know where best to go to find a particular primate. This site fills that gap …
https://www.rewild.org/get-to-know/primates

Current primate taxonomy

Primates in Peril – outlining the 25 primate species in most need of urgent conservation intervention.

Primate Conservation – Follow Russell Mittermeier on Twitter @PrimateWatcher

Primatewatching rankings

Please register or log in to submit your list to join the competition. All mammal lists

#

Name

No. of species

List

Latest observations

1

Jon
Hall

299

View

Latest additions include Preuss's Guenons and Bioko Red Colobus in Equatorial Guinea in January 2023. Highlights include all the Lion Tamarins and all the Douc Langurs.

2

Martin
Royle

233

View

Laoatian Langur latest sighting

3

Alex
Schouten

136

View

Highlights: Kipunji, Drill, all 9 species of Sifaka, all 3 species of Douc Langurs, Cat Ba Langur, Southern Muriqui, Pennant's Red Colobus. Latest trip (march 2023: Vietnam

4

Charley
Hesse

131

View

Latest trip to S India with Lion-tailed Macaque & Nilgiri Langur

5

Cathy
Pasterczyk

105

View

Just love those Celebes Macaques ! I could follow them around for hours. My photos of 43 of these species are in iNaturalist.

6

Philip
Precey

96

View

96 species as of May 2023: most recent additions Gelada, Hamadryas and Bale Monkey in 2020

7

Andreas
Jonsson

80

View

Latest addition: March 2023 Gee´s golden langur in Kakoijana forest reserv - India

8

Samuel
Marlin

79

View

Highlights are: Mountain gorillas and chimpanzee in Uganda; all the sifakas (6 seen out of 9 species) in Madagascar

9

Tomer

78

View

I've actually had lots of highlights - I love my primates. Most recent additions were pale titi and Azara's night monkeys in 2022. Madagascar should put me >100 so I'm very excited.

10

Alex
Meyer

77

View

2022: Silvery Javan Gibbon, Javan Slow Loris, West & East Javan Langurs. Previous Years: Kenya Coast Galago, Buffy-headed Marmoset, Golden-mantled Saddleback Tamarin, Black-faced Lion Tamarin, Panamanian Night Monkey, Coastal Black-handed Titi, Napo Saki, Northern Muriqui, Tana River Mangabey, Bale Monkey, Semliki Red Colobus, Eastern Gorilla, Chimpanzee, and Human at birth (only way to truly see wild Humans)

11

Terry
Reis

62

View

Most recent new species is Sumatran Orangutan in 2020.

12

Brett
Taylor

56

View

It's actually been a while since this list was added to. Vietnam primates are a definite highlight. I really just wanted to be in the top 10 of the primate lists and reside with the other esteemed mammal watchers here while I could. Shameless I know. Cheers.

13

Jonas
Livet

40

View

Update 05/2023: 40 primate species seen in the wild, total 211 primate species seen including ones in captive settings

14

Michael
Johnson

36

View

More than half the mammals on my list come from my trip to Uganda in Feb 23, during which I saw 21 primate species.

15

Martin
Fichtler

24

View

Latest: Barbary Macaque, June 2022, Morocco and Thick-tailed Greater Galago, Aug. 2022, South Africa. Highlight: Drill in Cameroon.

16

Diedert
Koppenol

5

View

Central American Spider Monkey

17

William
Lewis

3

View

Latest - Mantled Howler Monkey, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, and Panamanian White-throated Capuchin in Costa Rica, June/July 2022.

18

Bruno
Kovacs Gomez

1

View

Only Barbary Macaque, in 2019 in Gibraltar and in 2023 in Morocco.

See also

Madagascar

The enormously rich diversity of primates makes Madagascar one of the planet’s four major primate regions.

More
Central & South America

Central and South America – or the Neotropics – are home to well over 200 species and subspecies of primates.

More