Found: The lost grey monkey so rare it was thought to be extinct
The only images previously available were museum sketches Photo: AP
Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have "rediscovered" a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.
4:21PM GMT 20 Jan 2012
They were all the more baffled to find the Miller's Grizzled Langur - its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar - in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.
The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo island in June, hoping to captures images of clouded leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to congregate at several mineral salt licks.
The pictures that came back caught them all by surprise: groups of monkeys none had ever seen.
With virtually no photographs of the grizzled langurs in existence, it at first was a challenge to confirm their suspicions, said Brent Loken, a PhD student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and one of the lead researchers.
The only images previously available were museum sketches.
"We were all pretty ecstatic, the fact that, wow, this monkey still lives, and also that it's in Wehea," said Mr Loken.
The monkey, which has hooded eyes and a pinkish nose and lips, once roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Sumatra and Java and the Thai-Malay peninsula. But concerns were voiced several years ago that they may be extinct.
Forests where the monkeys once lived had been destroyed by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining and an extensive field survey in 2005 turned up empty.
"For me the discovery of this monkey is representative of so many species in Indonesia," Mr Loken said.
"There are so many animals we know so little about and their home ranges are disappearing so quickly," he said. "It feels like a lot of these animals are going to quickly enter extinction."
The next step will be returning to the 90,000 acre (38,000 hectare) forest to try to find out how many grizzly langurs there are, according to the team of local and international scientists, who published their findings in the American Journal of Primatology on Friday.
They appear in more than 4,000 images captured over a two-month period, said Mr Loken. "We are trying to find out all we can," he said. "But it really feels like a race against time."
Experts not involved in the study were hugely encouraged.
"It's indeed a highly enigmatic species," said Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist who spent more than eight years doing field research in the area.
In the past they were hunted to near extinction for their meat and bezoar "stones," he said, which can, on occasion, be found in their guts.
Bezoars, as Harry Potter fans know from lectures given by Prof Snape to first year students, are believed by some to neutralize poison.
Mr Meijaard said the animal has long been considered a subspecies of the Hose's Leaf Monkey, which also occurs on the Malaysian side of Borneo, but it now looks like that may not be the case.
"We think it might actually be a distinct species," he said, "which would make the Wehea discovery even more important."
Galapagos Tortoise Species Can Be Revived, Scientists Say
Lonesome George, the last known individual of the Pinta Island Tortoise, is pictured at Galapagos National Park's breeding center in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz island, Galapagos on March 18, 2009. (RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/Getty Images)
By FRANK BAJAK 11/22/12 05:15 PM ET EST
LIMA, Peru -- Lonesome George, the late reptile prince of the Galapagos Islands, may be dead, but scientists now say he may not be the last giant tortoise of his species after all.
Researchers say they may be able to resurrect the Pinta Island subspecies by launching a cross-breeding program with 17 other tortoises found to contain genetic material similar to that of Lonesome George, who died June 24 at the Pacific Ocean archipelago off Ecuador's coast after repeated failed efforts to reproduce.
Edwin Naula, director of the Galapagos National Park, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that the probability is high it can be accomplished.
"It would be the first time that a species was recovered after having been declared extinct," Naula said.
But it won't happen overnight.
"This is going to take about 100 to 150 years," Naula added.
Scientists took DNA samples from 1,600 tortoises on Wolf volcano, and found the Pinta variety in 17, though their overall genetic makeup varied.
Through cross-breeding, "100 percent pure species" can be achieved, said Naula, a biologist.
He said the 17 tortoises were being transferred from Isabela island, where the volcano is located, to the park's breeding center at Santa Cruz, the main island on the archipelago whose unique flora and fauna helped inspire Charles Darwin's work on evolution. The results are to be published in the journal Biological Conservation, the park said.
The study on Wolf volcano was conducted by Yale University and the Galapagos park with financial help from the Galapagos Conservancy.
In a news release, the park said scientists speculate that giant tortoises from Pinta island might have arrived at Wolf volcano after being taken off by whaling ships for food and later cast overboard.
At least 14 species of giant tortoise originally inhabited the islands' 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) off Ecuador's coast and 10 survive.
A visit to Lonesome George became de rigueur for celebrities and common folk alike among the 180,000 people who annually visit the Galapagos.
Before humans arrived, the islands were home to tens of thousands of giant tortoises. The number fell to about 3,000 in 1974, but the recovery program run by the national park and the Charles Darwin Foundation has succeeded in increasing the overall population to 20,000.
Lonesome George's age at death was not known, but scientists believed he was about 100, not especially old for a giant tortoise.
The saola, an antelope-like endangered mammal, has been caught on camera for the first time in the 21st century. The animal, dubbed the “Asian Unicorn” because it is so rarely seen, was photographed in Vietnam’s Central Annamite mountains.
When the saola was discovered in 1992, it was the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years, according to the WWF. The animal is a cousin of cattle, and it’s made distinct by its two parallel horns with sharp ends that can grow as long as 1½ feet.
Even 20 years after its discovery, little is known about the saola’s ecology or behavior because the animal is so elusive. The WWF estimates that at most there are a few hundred of them living in the forests along the Vietnam-Laos border.
The photo released by the WWF was taken in September by a camera trap.
“These are the most important wild animal photographs taken in Asia, and perhaps the world, in at least the past decade,” William Robichaud, coordinator of the Saola Working Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said in the WWF statement. “They are also inspiring evidence of the effectiveness of the forest guards model to keep saola from sliding into the abyss of extinction.”
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