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Scientists discover new monkey in Amazon...and it's already threatened
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illustration: Stephen Nash
Scientists have discovered a new species of monkey in a remote region of Brazil.
The monkey is a new species related to saddleback tamarins, so named for the distinctive markings on their backs. Mura's saddleback tamarin--the researchers chose to name the new species after the local indigenous people--weighs only 300 grams (.66 lb) on average and is 555mm (21 in) long, tail included.
The findings were announced yesterday by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who had sponsored the researchers' trip to the Amazon, and the study describing the primate was published online in the June International Journal of Primatology. Authors of the study include Fabio Röhe of the Wildlife Conservation Society, José de Sousa e Silva Jr. of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Ricardo Sampaio of the Instituto Nacional de Parquisas de Amaozônia, and Anthony B. Rylands of Conservation International.
Rohe et al. explained that Saguinus fuscicollis mura's habitat is threatened by human development; a major highway will cut through the Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey is located, and two hydroelectric dams are in development further downstream. The dam projects "will potentially threaten the riparian ecosystems along the entire course of the Rio Madeira and its tributaries," the researchers wrote. "The consequences of damming a white-water river such as the Madeira that carries such enormous volumes of sediment remain unknown."
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