Although not found in Africa, being interested in conservation I thought it was certainly worth a post when I read about the re-discovery of an animal so rare it was thought to be extinct.

It concerns the Miller’s grizzled langur – one of a number of small, tree-dwelling monkeys on the island of Borneo, spotted by scientists in an area outside its previously recorded range.

Scientists were caught by surprise when they found images of the grey monkeys on their camera’s, which they’d set up in the Wehea forest, east Borneo, with the purpose to capture images of leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to that area.

The scientists suspected that it concerned the Miller’s grizzled langur and were keen to get their suspicions confirmed, since this species was thought to be extinct since several years.

Over a period of 2 months time, more than 4000 images of the species were captured.

Next, scientists will return to the same forest to try and find out how many grizzled langurs there are.

The forests the monkeys once lived in, in other parts of Indonesia, had been destroyed by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining. An extensive field survey in 2005 in these parts of Indonesia found no evidence of the existence of the species.

Via: The Independent and The Guardian