( Editor : Pictures video and sound of...)A New Species of Monkey is Discovered in Tanzania: The First in Africa for More Than 20 Years

Editor : Pictures, video and sound of this rare monkey are available on the Saving Wildlife website.

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, working in conjunction with other partners, have discovered Africa’s first new species of monkey in over 20 years, marking the third monkey WCS scientists have found in the last six months. The new species is described in the current issue of Science.

The latest find is named the “Highland Mangabey?(Lophocebus kipunji), a long-haired forest primate first discovered on the flanks of the 10,000 ft (2961 m) volcano Mt. Rungwe and in the adjoining Kitulo National Park. Last December, WCS researchers found a new species of macaque in India, followed by a new variety of titi monkey in Bolivia.

“This discovery proves that there is still so much to learn about the more remote and less well-known areas of Tanzania, and Africa as a whole. Having been so involved in the creation of the Park, and the conservation of Mt Rungwe, it has been very exciting for us to help reveal more of their secrets,?said Dr. Tim Davenport, who directs the WCS Southern Highlands Conservation Program and who led the team of Noah Mpunga, Sophy Machaga and Dr. Daniela De Luca who found the monkey.

Some months later, the same species was independently discovered in Ndundulu Forest Reserve in the Udzungwa Mountains as the result of University of Georgia primatologist Dr. Carolyn Ehardt’s research project, which is focused on conservation of the critically endangered Sanje mangabey endemic to these mountains. First sighted by Richard Laizzer and observed by research biologist Trevor Jones, while working as field assistants for the project, the monkey was then identified as a new species by Ehardt and by Dr. Tom Butynski, who directs Conservation International (CI)’s Eastern Africa Biodiversity Hotspots Program. When Eh
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Source:Saving Wildlife News

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