So far 106 species of lemurs（狐猴） ha

So far 106 species of lemurs（狐猴） have been identified and nearly all of them are judged to be at risk of extinction, many of them critically endangered. The habitats they depend on---mostly forest---only exist in Madagascar. “Just as fish cannot survive without water, lemurs cannot survive without forest. But less than ten percent of the original Madagascar forest is left,” said Professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy, director of GERP, a center for primate research in Madagascar. “I believe that within the next 25years, if the speed of the deforestation（滥伐森林） remains the same, there would be no forest left. And that means no lemurs left on this island.”The pressure to clear the forests comes from a rapidly growing but extremely poor population seeking to open up new farmland. A form of slash-and-burn agriculture sees trees cut down and bushes burnt to make way for fields of rice and other crops.The only long-term solution, according to Professor Ratsimbazaf, is to engage communities and persuade them that the forests---and the lemurs --- have a value that is worth safeguarding. In one protected area, GERP is hiring local people to watch over the forest, making the point that the lemurs can be worth more alive than dead. It is also supporting new ways of living in the local village including fishfarming and bee-keeping, and teaching new techniques for rice-growing that do not require constant expansion into the forest.But there is an additional threat to the lemurs--- a continuing demand for bushmeat （ 野味） . Although it is illegal to kill lemurs, poachers（偷猎者） are still setting traps for the animals or shooting them, either for their own consumption or to be sold to others.