Lemurs of Madagascar facing big problem

Lemurs are facing a big problem, including habitat loss, hunting, fire and logging, Madagascar expert told Xinhua Wednesday. A Malagasy expert in Madagascar's lemurs, Professor Jonah Henri Ratsimbazafy, who is the coordinator of a British NGO, Durrel Wildlife Conservation Trust Madagascar, told Xinhua in a exclusive interview on Wednesday that Madagascar is famous for its lemurs which represent the 20 percent of all primates in the world. Jonah said that Madagascar has currently 105 species of lemurs from 103 last July and these species are all endemics. Jonah said that the situation of protecting lemurs is not easy. He said that all lemurs live in the forest and without forest they cannot survive. However, only "10 percent of forest in Madagascar is left," Jonah said. A total of 524,700 hectares of forest have been recorded missing in Madagascar for the last 11 years according to the Association of Forestry Engineers of Madagascar has currently 9 million hectares of forests on its 590,000 km of surface. "Conservation is a collective task that requires the collaboration of all of us for the conservation of these unique species," Jonah said. "We are planning to the forth international congress of prosimians, which include lemurs, in August 4 to August 9, 2013 in the national park Ranomafana. This is opportunity for all primatologists, people who study prosimians to share their results and exchange their experiences. The latest congress was held in South Africa in 2007," Jonah said.