After Years of Searching, a Stunning Find in Congo

Many new species reported these days are plants, tiny insects, and marine animals hiding in ocean depths, which is why the discovery of a previously unknown monkey with vivid pinkish-orange lips is so outstanding. Scientists have confirmed that the black-furred monkey now named Colobus congoensis—found to have diverged from its sister species, Colobus satanas, some 4 to 5 million years ago—has been hiding high in the canopy of Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, per the BBC. Known locally as the Likweli, the primate, which stretches about 4 feet from nose to tail, is only the fifth new African monkey species identified in the past 75 years.

First spotted in 2008, the animal eluded researchers for another decade before an international team led in part by Florida Atlantic University PhD student Junior Amboko logged enough field observations, photographs, audio recordings of the monkey's resonant roar, and samples from dead specimens to finally confirm it as a distinct species, now described in PLoS One, per the Washington Post. The thumb-less leaf-eater appears to be confined to an area of just 650 square miles in the center of the country, mostly within the boundaries of the national park created just 10 years ago following the 2012 discovery of another monkey species. Though hunting is banned in the park, hunting for bushmeat remains a threat, per the BBC.