Current Connectinons #1

According to New, colorful monkey species discovered in Africa rain forest, a new species of monkey had been found by John Hart, a veteran Congo researcher. Because of a picture he found by going through 2007's photographs from Congo, now locally known as Zaire, he stumbled across this unusal looking monkey beside a young village girl that the monkey had become attached to. Five years of gentic work and research the unknown monkey had become known and was " dubbed Cercopithecus lomamiensis." (Now locally called the Lesula.)

So why was this primate never found or recongized by scientists? Well, I can answer that one...turns out "Lesula, a cryptic, skittish primate", roams around in 6,500 square miles in the dense rain forest bottom.

The Lesula live in small groups of five and eat fruit and leafy plants. The males weigh up to 15 pounds, twice the size of the females. And check this, "they have giant blue backsides, bright aquamarine buttocks and testicles. What a signal! That aquamarine blue is really a bright color in forest understory.", says Hart.

I wonder what made them aquire that color blue? And why blue?

Aquamarine blue reminds me of going to the zoo with my parents and checking out the aquariums with all the exotic fish and undiscovered underwater creatures. Talking about the monkey itself reminds me of the zoo, visiting the primate habitat and looking at all the different species of monkey and listening to the different coos and cries of the monkey's calls.

Now that the new monkey has been identified, Hart's next task is to save it. However, there is a "thriving" market for bush meat, or wild animal game, in urban areas. Apparently bush meat is a low income diet because it is cheaper than chicken or beef. "This is not a new problem, but it's a problem that doesn't have a solution yet.", says Hart.

Eating wild animal game is not new, people even in the early days have been doing it for years so it is not frowned apon. However, eating bush meat should be minimized to little or none at all. If chicken or beef wouldn't be so expensive people wouldn't need wild game to satisfy their hunger with what little money they have.