Primate Watching
Welcome to the world of primate watching!
This site is meant to help you do two things:
1. Find a primate
This site aims to fill the space between the ambiguity of range maps and the vagueness of guidebooks. Guides are great. Field guides help when you encounter a primate in the field. Travel guides help you get around. But neither help you know where best to go to find a particular primate. This site aims to be a tripadvisor for primates, providing specific localities that offer a good chance to meet each and every primate species in the wild.
2. Keep track of the primates
Researchers are still finding new primate species in the field and in genetics. Taxonomies are changing. New localities are being discovered. And lost. Many of the world’s primates continue slipping closer to extinction. This site will keep you abreast of the current developments in the world of primatology. It will also highlight some of the threats to and conservation of the species.
This is not only a resource for where to find each and every primate species in the world but also to know what each of these species are and how they are doing. By providing more resources to support primate watching and appreciation, perhaps we can all contribute a little towards their conservation.
This site remains a work in progress. Links are in blue.
Each species will have its own webpage including a species profile and a good place to see it. Along with the primatology, notes on the phenomenology of watching at the various localities and references to the primate researchers and organisations will be included. Information on subspecies will also be added soon.
For every species I've seen, information on these species will be firsthand. For species I have yet to see, information is secondhand and comes from research, cross-referencing, and correspondence with colleagues.
My goal is to see all the primate species in the wild. Currently, 533 species (723 including subspecies) are recognised. Taxonomy follows Mittermeier R.A., Rylands A.B. & Wilson D.E., 2013 - Handbook of the Mammals of the World: Primates. Vol. 3. Lynx Edicons: Barcelona, with updates from the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group.
Latest New Species Seen
Thomas' Langur | Presbytis thomasi
Sumatran Orangutan | Pongo abelii
Proboscis Monkey | Nasalis larvatus
Bintan Island Pale-thighed Langur | Presbytis siamensis rhionis
Latest Species Pages Completed
Western Hoolock Gibbon | Hoolock hoolock
Phayre's Langur | Trachypithecus phayrei
Please note:
Utmost sensitivity is taken in sharing this information. As often as possible, I describe where to see species in well-protected areas. For any species potentially threatened by primate watching, guidance is abstract. Rather than listing specific information I include researchers and conservationists you can contact. This approach is meant to further publicise the dire situation of these highly threatened species rather than exacerbate their plight.