Please Don't Eat The Monkeys

Is there anything wrong with eating our closest animal relatives?

by Lauren Fleming

Except for foodies here and there, most Americans have never bitten into a piece of monkey. But across the sea — in West Africa, China and other Indo-Asian countries — it's considered a delicacy. Other than the fact that it's gross (monkeys are our closest animal relatives, hello), though, is there a problem with eating monkey?

Gail Hearn, founder of the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, thinks so. The Drexel University primatologist has been working to preserve the biodiversity of Bioko Island, located in Equatorial New Guinea in Africa, since 1998, and monkeys are a large part of that. "The whole ecosystem is at risk in terms of wildlife, but there are specific animals — including seven species of monkeys — that are critically endangered," says Hearn, who'll be giving a lecture on the subject Thursday. Due to commercial hunting for bush meat, these primates have experienced a dramatic population loss in recent years.

"There really is no excuse for this bush-meat hunting," says Hearn. "It would be a different case if this were an essential food item for people, but it isn't — it's sold as a luxury food."

Since the retirement of U.S. Ambassador Donald Johnson two years ago, regulations against bush-meat hunting have become lax, forcing conservationists such as Hearn to work overtime. At Thursday's lecture, she'll discuss how you can help, what companies are supporting the cause (Exxon Mobil, for one — what?), and how dire the situation is. "It's a small effort," says Hearn of her contributions. "But the greatest catastrophe to our planet is the loss of biodiversity."

Thu., May 7, 5:30 p.m., free, Wagner Free Institute of Science, 1700 W. Montgomery Ave., 215-763-6529, wagnerfreeinstitute.org.