India, Dec. 23 -- Great apes share up to 98.8% of human DNA, yet five of seven species are now critically endangered

Illegal trade fuels their decline, with infants trafficked alive and adults killed for bushmeat

Weak enforcement, corruption and paper-based permits allow traffickers to bypass global bans

Conservationists warn that without urgent reform, extinction is no longer a distant threat

Great apes are humans' closest relatives in the animal kingdom. As much as 98.8 per cent of their DNA is shared, but while the number of humans living on the planet is increasing fast, other great apes are in decline. Five out of the seven species are now critically endangered.

The UN has estimated that about 22,000 great apes disappeared from ...