Monday, May 23, 2005

Animal of the Week May 23, 2005 -- New monkey

Hi!
Yes, you guessed it, this week's animal is Lophocebus kipunji (highland mangabey). So, this has already been called by a couple of AOTW recipients, but I never said I was unpredictable. And besides, AOTW has a long history of reporting new monkeys, some of you may recall the Arunchal macaque (Macaca munzala), which was, I believe, the first regular AOTW about 6 months ago. The highland mangabey is light brown in colour and lives up some mountains in the southern highlands and Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. The species name kipunji is the Wanyakyusa people's name for the the monkey, of which they have known for a long time; their stories led US researchers to the fluffy wuffkins. Mangabeys are closely related to baboons. Not much more to add due to the newness of the species, besides, of course, their low-pitched "honk bark" which is apparently unique among primates. I suggest anyone who thinks this unique among primates checks out some ladies' tennis matches this summer.

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