For the first time in Africa in more than 20 years, scientists have discovered a new species of monkey. The species, Lophocebus kipunji, calls Tanzania's southern highlands home. The researchers report in tomorrow's issue of Science that there are fewer than 1,000 of the monkeys living in the forest's trees at elevations up to 8,000 feet. From Reuters:
"This exciting discovery demonstrates once again how little we know about our closest living relatives, the nonhuman primates," said Russell Mittermeier, chairman of the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission.
"A large, striking monkey in a country of considerable wildlife research over the last century has been hidden right under our noses."
Link (Thanks, Loren Coleman!)
UPDATE: BB reader Mechum points out an error in the Reuters article that I paraphrased above. The Highland Mangabey was the first species of monkey discovered in more than twenty years in Africa, not the entire world. Link to press release from the Wildlife Conservation Society