Covering all manner of animals from the African plains, bushmeat includes flesh of wildlife like giraffe, lemurs and even apes. It's a strange food choice, considering how close an ape's DNA is to a human's, almost on the verge of cannibalism. Not only is bushmeat bad for conservation efforts, it also provides a route for a number of serious tropical diseases to spread to humans from their animal hosts. These include Ebola, HIV, smallpox, chicken pox, tuberculosis, measles, rubella, rabies just to name a few.
Bushmeat is used for sustenance in remote areas, while in major towns and cities in bushmeat eating societies it is treated as a delicacy.West Africans say they have been eating bush meat for longer than anyone can remember. And even where it is outlawed and frowned upon by conservationists who decry the killing of protected primates and other animals, you can still find it readily available in markets and on street corners.