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"Extinct" Monkey
Photograph courtesy Eric Fell
A Miller's grizzled langur pauses while drinking water from a mineral spring, or sepan, in 2011. Feared extinct, the monkey species has been "rediscovered" on the Indonesian island of Borneo, a new study says.
Scientists stumbled onto several of the primates last year during a biodiversity survey of the Wehea Forest, a 98,000-acre (40,000-hectare) habitat in Indonesia's East Kalimantan Province (map). Previously known to live only in a small area along East Kalimantan's central coast, the Wehea discovery extends the species' range.
Numbers of the 13-pound (6-kilogram) langur—known for its white, bristly beard and sideburns—had declined in the animal's coastal habitat due to deforestation, hunting, and large human-caused fires in the 1990s. Later surveys turned up no evidence of the monkey.
"I've been working [in Wehea] for four years—I study primates, and I've never seen it" until now, said study co-author Stephanie Spehar, a primatologist at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. "The fact we found it did come as a big surprise to all of us."
Particularly exciting was that an independent survey team led by study co-author Brent Loken of Ethical Expeditions simultaneously spotted the langurs in another part of the forest. This suggests there are at least two healthy populations and not just an isolated group, said Spehar, whose study appears this month in the American Journal of Primatology.
"We were thrilled when we met up and showed each other our photos," she said.
(See pictures: "25 Most Endangered Primates Named [2007].")
—Christine Dell'Amore
Published January 20, 2012
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Langurs on Alert
Photograph courtesy Eric Fell
A group of Miller's grizzled langurs, including a mother and her baby, scan the scene around the Indonesian mineral spring.
"Coming to the ground to drink can be a dangerous proposition for a [tree-dwelling] primate, as it makes them more vulnerable to predators," Spehar said.
"This may be why they spend so much time sitting in the trees around the sepan—they are cautiously surveying the scene before they descend to the ground."
(Also see "Photos: 'Elvis Monkey,' Cloning Lizard Among New Mekong Species.")
Published January 20, 2012
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Tree Dweller
Photograph courtesy Eric Fell
A Miller's grizzled langur of unknown gender surveys the surrounding trees.
"It is pretty hard to tell a male from a female unless you get a really good look at the rear end," according to Spehar.
Spehar's undergraduate student Eric Fell first saw the langurs while sitting in a blind—a hidden enclosure that allows a person to view wildlife undetected. From there, Fell photographed animals that came to drink from the spring and lick its natural mineral deposits.
"When he showed me the photos, there were lots of animals I was familiar with, and then he showed me this langur," Spehar recounted. "I said, Oh, I haven't seen that here before, [and] I knew we had something significant."
(Also see "Up to 2,000 New Orangutans Found on Borneo.")
Published January 20, 2012
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Grounded Monkeys
Photograph courtesy Brent Loken
Several of the "rediscovered" langurs gather at the sepan, including one seen drinking water in the foreground. Spehar and colleagues saw up to 11 langurs at one time—the primates generally live in groups of between 6 and 12 individuals, with just one male per group.
"We still have much work to do to better understand the extent of this population—where else it is found in the region; how large the population is; aspects of its behavior, which have not been comprehensively studied; and, most importantly, we also have to work to make sure that the area in which it is found is protected," Spehar said.
The Wehea Forest is temporarily protected by an indigenous group and the local government, but it's surrounded on almost all sides by logging concessions, she noted.
(See blog post: "Hard-Won Battles Against Illegal Logging are Paying Off.")
Published January 20, 2012
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Peek-a-Boo
Photograph courtesy Eric Fell
A Miller's grizzled langur peeks from behind a tree in Indonesia.
Borneo is one of the world's most diverse places, yet it also has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, Spehar said. Finding the langurs "provides us with the renewed opportunity to protect this very rare animal" and its habitat.
(See pictures of rain forest destruction.)
Published January 20, 2012
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