• The monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary are native to the rainforests of Central and South America

  • • Currently, over 60% of all primate species are threatened with extinction, and 75% of all primate species worldwide are declining (as of 2017)

• Rainforests occur where there is high annual rainfall and a hot and humid climate

• There are different kinds of rainforests, including tropical, temperate, monsoon, and mangrove

• Rain forests are classified in 4 general layers, each area with its own unique ecosystem: 

  • • Emergent - Tallest trees - hot and windy.  

    • Canopy - Next tallest trees, very thick, leaves block the sunlight, rain hits trees, then runs off the leaves and onto the lower layers of the forest.  The canopy then traps the moisture in.  Trees in the rainforest are green year round.  

    • Understudy - Smaller trees and plants. 

    • Forest floor - Dark, damp and covered with wildflowers, ferns, mosses, mushrooms and trees with strange roots.  

• The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest rainforest, spanning over 670 million hectares.

  • •  The Amazon is home to 10% of all known species of plants and animals on Earth

• Over 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to cattle ranching

• 18.7 million acres of forests are lost each year, which is equivalent to 27 soccer fields per minute 

• The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 27% of the Amazon biome will be without trees by 2030 if the current rate of deforestation continues

  • • If rainforests continue to decline at the current rate, scientists estimate that 5-10% of their species will go extinct every 10 years

• Earth is currently in the middle of the "Anthropocene Extinction"

  • • In the last 100 years, scientists conservatively estimate that at least 200 vertebrate species have gone extinct.  The average or “background” extinction rate is about 2 species per 100 years.  The current rate of species extinction is between 100 to 1,000 times higher than the background rate.  

    • Noted Biologist and author, Edward Wilson, calculated that if the current rate of human disturbance continues, half of Earth’s higher lifeforms will be extinct by 2100.

Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica, World Wildlife Fund, Conseve Energy Future