Madagascar is considered a biodiversity hotspot, for, as an island, it is home to an array of unique, endemic species, existent nowhere else in the world but there.

The white-faced brown lemur is one of the 105 species of lemur that have been described to date. Only the males have a white ring around the face.

The species is suspected to have undergone a population decline of ≥30% over a period of 24 years (three generations), due primarily to unsustainable hunting pressure and continuing decline in area, extent and quality of habitat.

The white-faced brown lemur is the most heavily hunted of all lemur species (where hunting has been studied) and is widely hunted at unsustainable levels by subsistence hunters across its range, primarily because of low food security in the region.

Habitat loss is also a major threat. Almost half of Madagascar’s forest (46%) is now located within less than 100 metres from the forest edge.