亿万富翁布兰森计划建狐猴保护区

    Billionaire Richard Branson plans to create a colony* of lemurs* on an undeveloped island he owns in the Caribbean*, to save the species that is disappearing from its native African home.

    Branson said he plans to bring the first group of about 30 lemurs from zoos in the coming weeks to Moskito Island, part of the British Virgin Islands, where they would be the only wild population outside of Africa. Experts said that lemurs would find a suitable* home on Moskito Island, about 136 kilometers from Puerto Rico, with many tamarind* trees for food.

    The businessman and adventurer* has got the green light from the government of the British territory to import* the lemurs and said he hopes to find a way to prevent the non-native lemurs from harming local birds and lizards*.

    He said he plans to start with the relatively common ring-tailed lemurs, which come from zoos in Africa, Sweden and Canada, but hopes to have more than a dozen species on Moskito.

    Lemurs are found only on Madagascar* and the Comoro Islands* and are considered the most endangered of all primates*, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

    The founder of the Virgin Group, which includes an airline and media properties, has said he aims to serve a higher purpose in the sparsely* populated British Virgin Islands than only receiving wealthy visitors.

    He has developed an eco resort* on Necker Island that showcases renewable energy technology and reintroduced flamingos*.

    However, his plans to introduce lemurs on 69-hectare Moskito Island have come under strong criticism from some people.

    James “Skip” Lazell, a biologist who has been doing research in the British Virgin Islands for 31 years and has worked with Branson in the past, says “it’s a horrible idea” to introduce non-native species. Lemurs can be omnivorous* and could end up eating the eggs of birds or a type of small lizard that exists only in the British Virgin Islands, he said.

    Branson said he hopes to meet with Lazell and other scientists and find ways to solve their worries. (SD-Agencies)