Great Apes Are in Great Danger Due to Coronavirus
A Covid-19 outbreak has the potential to wipe out our closest relatives, while the lockdown is leading to a surge in poaching across Africa
“Almost every respiratory virus we carry will also make it to the great apes,” says Dr. Fabian Leendertz, a primate infectious disease ecologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa faces another possible outbreak, one which has the potential to wipe out an entire species. “The main thing is to avoid [an outbreak] happening.”
The consensus is almost universal amongst those studying primates. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a statement referring to the coronavirus by its scientific name, giving official guidelines to the same effect: “It is safest to assume that great apes are susceptible to SARS CoV-2 infection.” The IUCN’s recommendations stress stringent precautions on the part of national parks, researchers, and tourists to help ensure that the critically endangered populations of primates across the continent are not driven to extinction by a global pandemic that has already taken more than 366,000 human lives as of May 29.
