New orange-lipped monkey species discovered 'hiding' in forest
The monkey, known locally as 'Likweli', has distinctive pinkish-orange lips and a distinctive roaring call
- Published
A monkey with striking pinkish-orange lips and a black face has been confirmed as a new species.
The black-furred primate was spotted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and lives in the tropical forests of the Lomami National Park.
It was photographed hidden away in high tree canopies in the central east of the country.
This is only the fifth African monkey species to be discovered in the last 75 years.
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"Discovering" a species, in this context, means officially recording and confirming it has evolved to be genetically distinct - but it does not mean that the research team were the first people to know of the monkey's existence.
Some local people were already familiar with the monkey and refer to it by a common name - Likweli.
Conservationists working in the country first reported seeing this unusual-looking animal back in 2008, and captured a blurry photograph.
After another sighting 10 years later by an international team led to a search to find and study the monkey, which revealed that it was previously unrecorded by the scientific world.
It belongs to the larger group of colobus monkeys.
The research team with members from DRC, the US and Germany have given the monkey a scientific name in Latin Colobus congoensis, which recognises the natural diversity in the country.
Junior Amboko, a PhD student at Florida Atlantic University, who played a leading role in the search, told BBC News it was an "amazing feeling" to look into the face of an animal that so few people knew existed.
Amboko said that the monkeys were "kind of shy" and that "only people in eight villages [had ever seen] them".
How much is known about the species?
The team recorded the newly discovered Colobus congoensis monkey in the Lomami National Park
The team think that the animals are rare and are restricted to a part of the forest where they can find the food and habitat they need.
They also have a distinctive "roaring" call, with Amboko saying: "You often hear them, but don't see them."
The researchers also believe the monkeys have been hunted in the past, so they hope that now they are classified as a distinct species, the monkeys can be officially protected.
Prof Kate Detwiler, from Florida Atlantic University, believes that their bright facial markings could be a visual signal to other animals, to maybe make them attractive to a mate or for the animals to be able to identify each other.
The researchers say they still have a lot of questions about this newly described, secretive species and want carry out a more detailed survey to estimate their population and study their behaviour.
