NEW YORK - Scientists have discovered Africa's first new species of monkey in more than 20 years.
"It's extremely significant. Most things have been discovered, and this is a relatively big animal. It was thrilling," Tim Davenport, the biologist who led the team that found the monkey, told CBC News Online.
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| An adult male Highland Mangabey. (Courtesy: Tim Davenport/WCS) |
The secretive, long-haired primate was found in the steep, forested mountains of southern Tanzania in December 2003, but the story of its discovery was only released Thursday in the journal Science.
Speaking from Tanzania, Davenport said he was surveying villagers about how they use the forests on the flanks of Mount Rungwe when he first heard about the monkey.
"Some of the older hunters were describing this monkey we'd never seen before. This tribe has a range of spirit animals and real animals. It was difficult to distinguish whether it was real or spirit," said Davenport, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's conservation program in Tanzania's Southern Highlands.
But the nearly one-metre-tall, brown monkey is very definitely real. Named the "Highland Mangabey," it has a long, erect crest of hair on its head, long cheek whiskers, an off-white belly and tail, and an unusual call, which the scientists describe as a "honk-bark."
"This exciting discovery demonstrates once again how little we know about our closest living relatives, the nonhuman primates," said Russell Mittermeier, chair of the primate specialist group of the World Conservation Union's species survival commission, in a news release.
''A large striking monkey in a country of considerable wildlife research over the last century has been hidden right under our noses."
The monkey was again spotted eight months later by a different team of scientists working more than 350 kilometres away from where Davenport first saw it.
Based on the groups of monkeys they've since seen, Davenport and his colleagues estimate there are between 500 and 1,000 of the animals.
Their numbers will very likely dwindle over the next few years as their forest home around Mount Rungwe continues to be cut down. Their habitat is already considered "severely degraded."
Davenport says the forest has a lot of "high-value" timber. "Individuals not from the area are sponsoring locals to remove the timber, for which they're paid. It's not an organized commercial thing," he said.
Asked about the prognosis for the protection of this critical piece of habitat, Davenport was blunt.
"Not good at all," he said.
1 comment:
it makes you wonder how many other major species of animals will forever be unknown because their habitats were destroyed long before there was opportunity to learn about them. terribly upsetting.
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