The Primate Specialist Group is a network of scientists and conservationists who stand against the tide of extinction which threatens humanity’s closest kin. Active throughout the tropical world, working in dozens of nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the PSG promotes research on the ecology and conservation of hundreds of primate species — monkeys, apes, lemurs and their many nocturnal relatives. Now more than ever they need our intervention: one in every four primate species is threatened or endangered, and the double hammer of overhunting and forest devastation has brought some species to within a few dozen heads of final extinction. The PSG works on behalf of these and all other primates by supporting field research, conservation measures and educational programs in those regions where primates still occur. The PSG’s primary responsibility is to evaluate the conservation status of all primate species and subspecies, working with current information from experts in the field. These assessments contribute to the IUCN Red List, a comprehensive summary of threats to the world’s biodiversity. In addition, the PSG produces Action Plans targeted to particular species or groups of species. Much larger and more detailed than the general assessments, these Action Plans serve to summarize the available knowledge on a particular species group and to lay out a program for their conservation. Beyond these core functions, the PSG provides a unique forum for scientific publications through the newsletters and journals it sponsors, which are widely read by primatologists and often contain the only information available on rare and poorly-studied species. The PSG produces a journal or newsletter for each of the four global primate regions — Africa, Asia, Madagascar and the Neotropics — as well as an overarching journal, Primate Conservation, which publishes research on threatened primates from around the world. The PSG is only one of over one hundred and twenty Specialist Groups organized within the framework of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, an international alliance of conservationists which produces the IUCN Red List and a sweeping range of other conservation initiatives. The PSG’s current incarnation was organized in 1977 by Dr. Russell Mittermeier, a primatologist, herpetologist and prominent conservationist who has led the PSG as Chairman for twenty-nine years. His Deputy Chair is Dr. Anthony Rylands, a pioneering primatologist and editor who is the keeper of the PSG taxonomy. The PSG also includes coordinators for each major region, as well as a further 373 members organized by interests and geography. To contact a member of the PSG in your region of interest, please consult our list of the current team of regional coordinators. Last, but by no means least, the PSG has for many years relied on the expert abilities of Stephen D. Nash, Scientific Illustrator for Conservation International. His artwork has become an international standard for the illustration of the world's primate taxa, and we are glad to be able to include some of it on our website, including the logo above.