Great apes — chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans — face extinction from multiple human threats.
Great apes orphaned through bushmeat hunting experience profound trauma — they show grief responses, depression, and long-term behavioural impairment from the loss of their mothers. Each individual great ape has a sophisticated emotional life and complex social bonds. Conservation efforts that protect great apes are simultaneously protecting individuals with rich inner lives from suffering. The welfare of individual great apes and their species survival are inseparable concerns.