Rare mop-topped monkey: the bald-faced Vanzolini saki monkey

Rare mop-topped monkey has a Beatles haircut

Animals August 23, 2017

The bald-faced Vanzolini saki monkey was rediscovered in Brazil after 80 years and people can't help making comparisons. 

 

  Image Courtesy Christina Selby

bioGraphic‏Verified account @bioGraphic Aug 23

1.  
Scientists rediscovered a "missing" primate—the bald-faced Vanzolini saki monkey—after 80 years   http://bit.ly/2sgzhoX 
@ChristinaSelby

Animals

Rare Mop-Topped Monkey Spotted in Brazil for First Time in Over 80 Years

George Dvorsky
Filed to: LOST MONKEYS 

 

 

It’s been 81 years since anyone has seen a Vanzolini’s bald-faced saki in the wild. On a recent expedition to the Juruá River in the Amazon basin, a group of scientists managed to capture the first photographs ever taken of this elusive primate in its natural habitat—and it looks very weird. As reported in Mongabay, the rare saki was spotted earlier this year by a scientific expedition led by Dr. Laura Marsh, a saki monkey expert. Three years ago, Marsh managed to convince the scientific establishment that this monkey is not a subspecies of a related primate, but rather a distinct species in its own right: Pithecia vanzolinii. 
To further her argument and document Vanzolini’s bald-faced sakis in the wild, she organized a three-month expedition, called Houseboat Amazon, which proved to be a wild success. Back in the 1930s, Ecuadorian naturalist Alfonzo Olalla collected a number of live saki specimens, where he described a large monkey with a long fluffy tail and golden fur on its arms. The monkey was seen again in 1956 when two dead specimens were collected by ornithologist Fernando da Costa Novaes and taxidermist M. M. Moreira. Earlier this year, scientists stumbled upon a dead Vanzolini’s bald-faced saki that had been killed for bush meat. The Houseboat Amazon expedition was hoping to be the first to observe this animal in the wild in over eight decades. Just as soon as this monkey has been rediscovered, its status has been thrown into doubt.In addition to hunting along the Juruá watershed, the monkey is threatened by forest clearing, cattle ranchers, and road construction. Hopefully Marsh’s call for conservation will be heeded, and we’ll get to see more of this incredible monkey.

[Houseboat Amazon via Mongabay]

Read More:

Source: http://gizmodo.com/rare-mop-topped-monkey-spotted-in-brazil-for-first-time-1798320660