Patas monkey
Erythrocebus patas
CONSERVATION STATUS
CITES:
Appendix II (http://www.cites.org)
IUCN Red List:
Least Concern (http://www.redlist.org)
Photo: Anne & Ron Carlson
According to the IUCN Red List, the patas monkey is a species of least concern.
Because of their low threat status, international trade of patas monkeys is
permitted. CITES, however, regulates this export and international trade and
assigns quotas for nations exporting patas monkeys. In addition, patas monkeys
are listed in Appendix II by CITES (www.cites.org). According to Oates (1996),
patas were assigned to the lowest threat level among African primates and were
considered to be a low risk species. Typically, primates that live in savanna
and dry forest are less endangered due to expansive distributions (Oates 1996).
CONSERVATION THREATS
Threat: Harvesting (hunting/gathering)
In areas where
bushmeat
has economic importance, patas monkeys are reported to be taken as such
(Bowen-Jones & Pendry 1999). Due to their large numbers, this practice has
not as of yet substantially affected their numbers. However, like any species
taken for bushmeat, as human populations grow and the importance of bushmeat
to local and national economies grows, the threat can only increase. Patas
monkey remains can also be found in markets of traditional medicine in Nigeria
and this use may represent another threat to their populations (Sodeinde &
Soewu 1999).
Threat: Persecution
In East African areas where patas ranges abut cropland, patas monkeys
occasionally participate in crop raiding and use their high speed to escape when
spotted by farmers (Lee & Priston 2005).
Crop raiding
by patas may result in retaliatory killing and represents a conflict trend that
will increase with additional human land use (see Chism 2005).
LINKS TO MORE ABOUT CONSERVATION
CONSERVATION INFORMATION
CONSERVATION NEWS
ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN Erythrocebus patas CONSERVATION
Content last modified: December 18, 2006
Written by Kurt Gron. Reviewed by Karin Enstam.
Cite this page as:
Gron KJ. 2006 December 18. Primate Factsheets: Patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas) Conservation. <http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/patas_monkey/cons>. Accessed 2008 May 13.
