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[Gaborn]

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have “rediscovered” a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.

They were all the more baffled to find the Miller’s Grizzled Langur — its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar — in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.

The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo island in June, hoping to captures images of clouded leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to congregate at several mineral salt licks.

The pictures that came back caught them all by surprise: groups of monkeys none had ever seen.

With virtually no photographs of the grizzled langurs in existence, it at first was a challenge to confirm their suspicions, said Brent Loken, a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and one of the lead researchers.

The only images out there were museum sketches.

“We were all pretty ecstatic, the fact that, wow, this monkey still lives, and also that it’s in Wehea,” said Loken.

The monkey, which has hooded eyes and a pinkish nose and lips, once roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Sumatra and Java and the Thai-Malay peninsula. But concerns were voiced several years ago that they may be extinct.

Forests where the monkeys once lived had been destroyed by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining and an extensive field survey in 2005 turned up empty.

“For me the discovery of this monkey is representative of so many species in Indonesia,” Loken told The Associated Press by telephone.

“There are so many animals we know so little about and their home ranges are disappearing so quickly,” he said. “It feels like a lot of these animals are going to quickly enter extinction.”

The next step will be returning to the 90,000 acre (38,000 hectare) forest to try to find out how many grizzly langurs there are, according to the team of local and international scientists, who published their findings in the American Journal of Primatology on Friday.

They appear in more than 4,000 images captured over a two-month period, said Loken, but it’s possible one or two families kept returning.

“We are trying to find out all we can,” he said. “But it really feels like a race against time.”

Experts not involved in the study were hugely encouraged.

“It’s indeed a highly enigmatic species,” said Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist who spent more than eight years doing field research in the area.

In the past they were hunted to near extinction for their meat and bezoar “stones,” he said, which can, on occasion, be found in their guts.

Bezoars, as Harry Potter fans know from lectures given by Prof. Snape to first year students, are believed by some to neutralize poison.

Meijaard said the animal has long been considered a subspecies of the Hose’s Leaf Monkey, which also occurs on the Malaysian side of Borneo, but it now looks like that may not be the case.

“We think it might actually be a distinct species,” he said, “which would make the Wehea discovery even more important.”

Story Here

Yay monkeys

 

[RPGamer92]

So according to that article, magic is real?

 

[Data West]

He's even got an 'aw shit they found me' expression

 

[Monocle]

So according to that article, magic is real?

Yes. What I took from the article is that the wizarding world is responsible for driving that species of monkey to the brink of extinction for the stones in their bellies.

 

[brianjones]

He's even got an 'aw shit they found me' expression

lol

monkeys are the best.. i love family photos

 

[FreeMufasa]

<3 the world.

 

[VanMardigan]

Time to finish the job, humans. And this time, make sure they STAY dead!

 

[Furoba]

Discover species believed to be extinct, only to discover they'll likely go extinct anyway... Great discovery though.

 

[Tieno]

It makes you wonder what else hasn't gone extinct?

 

[TurbulentTurtle]

I bet they taste delicious.

 

[FreeMufasa]

It makes you wonder what else hasn't gone extinct?

There's got to be a dinosaur somewhere on this planet.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Why we still got Monkey?

 

[Good Job Bob]

So are we gonna capture this family and breed them or what?

 

[Monocle]

Why we still got Monkey?

Because parts of the world haven't been alerted to the fact that their brains are the most exquisite delicacy.

 

[Furoba]

It makes you wonder what else hasn't gone extinct?

Castro?

 

[Dice]

 

[Green Mamba]

There's got to be a dinosaur somewhere on this planet.

They're all over the fucking place.

 

[Kaako]

Yay, we found you!
Just make sure to stay clear of our path because we pretty much destroy everything we touch.

 

[jchap]

I propose we rename this species the inverse Hitler monkey

 

[sixteen-bit]

interesting looking animal

 

[Rapstah]

Great! Now let's use their bezoars to ressurect the entire species.

 

[Joel Was Right]

There's got to be a dinosaur somewhere on this planet.

Rumours and myths about some being spotted in Africa

 

[brianjones]

There's got to be a dinosaur somewhere on this planet.

 

[BertramCooper]

Nice tits.

 

[Good Job Bob]

Rumours and myths about some being spotted in Africa

Lol?

 

[Green Mamba]

Crocodilians aren't dinosaurs. Birds are, though.

 

[Rapstah]

Lol?

Yeah, what the hell, how closed-minded to call all of them rumours and myths. Ridicolous, how would we know?

 

[Amir0x]

i just want to drain the ocean to see what super fish we can discover. i want fucking squids the size of the empire state building, damn it.

awesome this species was re-discovered. hope they can successfully preserve the species now and help it thrive again

 

[Zaptruder]

i just want to drain the ocean to see what super fish we can discover. i want fucking squids the size of the empire state building, damn it.

awesome this species was re-discovered. hope they can successfully preserve the species now and help it thrive again

You're going to be so disappointed when all the fish are dead and all we dredge up are bus sized squids.

Not even bigger than a goddamn blue whale!

 

[Tawpgun]

They look like wise old men with long white beards.

I'd call then Gandalf Monkeys.

 

[Deified Data]

I believe in tiny monkeys.

 

[Amir0x]

You're going to be so disappointed when all the fish are dead and all we dredge up are bus sized squids.

Not even bigger than a goddamn blue whale!

i heard of the bloop and i believe

 

[noah111]

i just want to drain the ocean to see what super fish we can discover. i want fucking squids the size of the empire state building, damn it.

awesome this species was re-discovered. hope they can successfully preserve the species now and help it thrive again

This, I don't get why we aren't exploring the oceans more deeply.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Can't we rename them "Douchebag Monkeys" for having popped collars?

 

[radios shipping overview]

 

[Cousteau]

It makes you wonder what else hasn't gone extinct?

Common Sense. It's endangered but still alive.

 

[WillyFive]

Very good.

 

[Ghost_Protocol]

Indonesia seems to have a never-ending supply of new species.

 

[Diprosalic]

There's got to be a dinosaur somewhere on this planet.

i knew a Filipino family that sweared they had a dinosaur at home on a small island. but they told me i can't tell anyone because the government would capture and kill him. they were dead serious.

 

[Nemo]

He's even got an 'aw shit they found me' expression

goddamnit, you made me laugh real loud in a packed public bus :lol

 

[crazy monkey]

Yay monkeys

yay indeed. Love the teeth.

 

[mcrae]

This, I don't get why we aren't exploring the oceans more deeply.

its incredibly expensive to put out unmanned submarines that can sustain the pressures deep down, isnt it?

 

[Air]

Aww, so cute. I remember another topic from this board about a year or two ago, about the discovery of another monkey who was thought to be extinct, and it looked like Michael Jackson. That was a funny topic.