A new survey shows lemurs are far more threatened than previously thought. A group of specialists is in Madagascar – the only place where lemurs are found in the wild – to systematically assess the animals and decide where they sit on the Red List of Threatened Species. More than 90% of the 103 species should be on the Red List, they say.

Since a coup in 2009, conservation groups have repeatedly found evidence of illegal logging, and hunting of lemurs has emerged as a new threat. The assessment, conducted by the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), concludes that 23 lemurs qualify as Critically Endangered – the highest class of threat. Fifty-two are in the Endangered classification, and a further 19 Vulnerable to extinction.