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LUSAKA: A monkey of species scientists hadn’t seen since the 1970s, and which was assumed extinct by many experts, has been photographed in the Republic of Congo, researchers say.
The rare primate, known as Bouvier’s red colobus monkey, was photographed in the country’s newest wildlife preserve, the Ntokou-Pikounda National Park.
Primatologists Lieven Devreese and Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo managed to snap a photo of an adult female and an infant, most likely hers, in the 1,765-square mile preserve created in 2013 to protect gorillas, elephants, chimpanzees and numerous other species.
Earlier this year, the researchers set off hoping to photograph red colobus monkeys and document their present distribution, in an expedition financed by donations collected on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo and with funding from the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Using local people who were familiar with the monkey’s calls and behaviors, they found a troop of the monkeys living in swampy forests along the Bokiba River inside the park.
Many scientists had feared that hunting and logging in the area, which decimated the species’ population, may have caused it to go extinct.
