🐒 A brand new monkey species was just confirmed in the Congo - and locals already had a name for it: Likweli.
Colobus congoensis is only the fifth new African monkey species discovered in 75 years. It lives in an impossibly remote pocket of Lomami National Park in the DRC, with a known range of just 1,700 km² and a population estimated under 1,000.
The monkey has striking orange-cream patches around its mouth, a mask-like face with dark eye skin contrasting gray cheekbones, and glossy black fur with a cape-like sheen on the shoulders. Like other colobus monkeys, it has reduced thumbs and uses four elongated fingers as hooks for swinging through the canopy. Its vocalizations include deep roars punctuated by distinctive snorts.
The species was first photographed in 2008 during a survey near the Lomami River, but it took 14 more years of fieldwork, 114 documented observations, and confiscated specimens from bushmeat hunters before researchers could formally confirm it as a new species. Genetic analysis shows it diverged from its closest relative, Colobu
... Show more...🐒 A brand new monkey species was just confirmed in the Congo - and locals already had a name for it: Likweli.
Colobus congoensis is only the fifth new African monkey species discovered in 75 years. It lives in an impossibly remote pocket of Lomami National Park in the DRC, with a known range of just 1,700 km² and a population estimated under 1,000.
The monkey has striking orange-cream patches around its mouth, a mask-like face with dark eye skin contrasting gray cheekbones, and glossy black fur with a cape-like sheen on the shoulders. Like other colobus monkeys, it has reduced thumbs and uses four elongated fingers as hooks for swinging through the canopy. Its vocalizations include deep roars punctuated by distinctive snorts.
The species was first photographed in 2008 during a survey near the Lomami River, but it took 14 more years of fieldwork, 114 documented observations, and confiscated specimens from bushmeat hunters before researchers could formally confirm it as a new species. Genetic analysis shows it diverged from its closest relative, Colobus satanas, roughly 4.7 to 5.8 million years ago - making this the deepest split between sister species in the entire Colobus genus.
The research team is recommending Endangered status on the IUCN Red List due to the small range, tiny population, and ongoing hunting pressure.
Published July 15, 2026 in PLOS One.
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti…
#primate #conservation #biodiversity #monkey
We describe and name a new species of African monkey, Colobus congoensis sp. nov. (Primates, Cercopithecidae), from the interfluve region of the Lomami and Congo (Lualaba) Rivers in east-central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
journals.plos.org
