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Washington.
An endangered monkey known as the Miller’s Grizzled Langur has been discovered
on the island of Borneo in an area it was not previously known to inhabit,
international researchers said on Friday.
Little is
known about the monkey, known formally as Presbytis hosei canicrus, but it is
listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
due to massive habitat loss from fires, hunting, agriculture and mine
development.
It was
believed to live only in the jungle in the northeast part of Borneo, which
neighbors Indonesia’s Java Island.
But a
recent expedition of scientists who set up cameras in remote parts of a largely
undisturbed rainforest further west on Borneo, the Wehea Forest in East
Kalimantan, captured images of what appears to be the monkeys.
“Discovery
of P.h canicrus was a surprise since Wehea Forest lies outside of this monkey’s
known range,” said researcher Brent Loken of Canada’s Simon Fraser University.
“Concern
that the species may have gone extinct was first raised in 2004, and a search
for the monkey during another expedition in 2008 supported the assertion that
the situation was dire.”
The team
set up cameras at mineral licks where the monkeys gather, offering the “first
solid evidence demonstrating that its geographic range extends further than
previously thought,” said the study which appears in the American Journal of
Primatology.
However,
scientists were not initially sure exactly what the cameras had photographed,
since the only sources they have for comparison came from museums.
“It was a
challenge to confirm our finding as there are so few pictures of this monkey
available for study,” said Loken.
“The only
description of Miller’s Grizzled Langur came from museum specimens. Our
photographs from Wehea are some of the only pictures that we have of this
monkey.”
Next,
researchers hope to learn more about how many of the monkeys may be living in
the 38,000 hectare rainforest.
“While our
finding confirms the monkey still exists in East Kalimantan, there is a good
chance that it remains one of the world’s most endangered primates,” said
Loken.
Agence France-Presse
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