★Primates are a number of mammals that belong to the genus Primate. There are more than 300 species in this category. Among them are cats (Lemur), monkeys, various types of apes are important. Note that bats and primates belong to the class.
★Ape is a number of primates that have no tail. These include the orangutan, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, the bonobo, and the human. In the course of evolution, man has evolved from a kind of ape. In the absence of genetics, it is understood that human genes have the most similarities with Ape. For example, chimpanzees have more than 98 percent human similarities. About 2% of the genetic differences are due to differences between humans and chimpanzees. If you go back a little, you will find more similarities in human genes with any member of the primate than in any other order.
★It is not my intention to talk about evolution today. I want to shed light on an important contemporary issue. The whole world is upset today with the virus infection. We know that three-quarters of all infectious diseases in the human body come from different animals. And those pathogens are basically viruses. What types of wildlife are more likely to spread infectious diseases to humans? This is an important question. Scientists have already found the answer to this question. Since the genes of primates have a lot in common with human genes, the pathogens that can take refuge in primate class of wildlife can easily take refuge in humans as well. It happens because of the similarity of genes. The most alarming of these is the monkey.
★So the solution would be to kill all the primate animals? Of course not. Because they are maintaining the balance of the environment from within a wild food chain. But we are repeatedly falling prey to infectious diseases. The main reasons for this are deforestation and wildlife poaching. On June 5, some teenagers in Chittagong killed a fish tiger and rejoiced. A month ago, I saw a group of people in Jaintapur, Sylhet, killing various wild animals and rejoicing. A group of monkeys was poisoned to death by a family somewhere in Faridpur recently. Not only is the killing of these wild animals annoying the villagers. They are also being killed for making various traditional medicines. Killing for food too. The market is also doing it to sell meat, bones, or leather. These wild animals are being killed and traded extensively in Africa and Southeast Asia.
★One thing is clear with these killings. People are coming in contact with these wild animals. This is creating the possibility of the pathogens being transferred from their bodies to the human body. Of these pathogens, especially if the virus is capable of infecting, it will continue to be infected. And it will have the potential to spread from person to person. Who will guarantee that another infection will not spread once the spread of the pathogen SARS-CoV-2 is controlled?
★If even 0.01 percent of the economic damage that the Kovid-19 was causing to the entire world was being spent on stopping the wildlife trade, or on maintaining the natural forests in the poorer countries, we might not be seeing this catastrophe today.
★My slogan today is, Stop the World Wildlife Trade.Stop destroying natural forests. If you have to go in contact with wild animals, especially primates, stop such activities. Otherwise, our future catastrophe will not end.
★There was love for all living things on earth.
