Bouvier's red colobus (''Piliocolobus bouvieri'') is a species of colobus monkey rediscovered in the Republic of the Congo in 2015, after four decades without a confirmed sighting.

Description

Bouvier's red colobus has brownish-red fur on its body that is lighter than its closest relative, the

Pennant's colobus Pennant's colobus or Pennant's red colobus (''Piliocolobus pennantii'') is a species of tree-dwelling primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to tropical Central Africa. Three subspecies have traditionally been recognised but its dis ...

(''P. pennantii''). Its head has a patch of black to chocolate brown fur that is smaller than that of ''P. pennantii''. It has a white chin and whiskers. A black band of fur extends from above the eyes to the temples. The monkey's eyes are surround by large, pink eyerings. The tail of ''P. bouvieri'' is long in proportion to its small body and is dark brown at the root, fading to brownish-red at the tip. The fur on the species' underside is lighter than the fur on its back. Bouvier's red colobus is thought to exhibit considerable facial variation from individual to individual, varying from light flesh-colored with blackish cheeks and brows to darker tones throughout the face, excluding the nose and lips. Bouvier's red colobus lives in swampy forests surrounding the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

, between the mouths of the

Alima The Alima River is a tributary of the Congo River. It is formed by the confluence of two streams, the Lékéti and the Dziélé. Towns Towns on the banks of this river include (from the source): * Okoyo * Boundji * Oyo Location Se ...

and

Oubangui River The Ubangi River (), also spelled Oubangui, is the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River in the region of Central Africa. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mean annual discharge ...

s. It does not show fear of humans, making it an easy target for bushmeat hunters.

Classification

Bouvier's red colobus was first described in 1887 by

Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune Alphonse Amédée Trémeau de Rochebrune was a French botanist, malacologist and a zoologist. He was born on 18 September 1836 in Saint-Savin, and died on 23 April 1912 in Paris. Biography The son of a curator of the Museum of Angoulême, he beca ...

in ''Faune de Sénégambie''. For many years it was considered a subspecies of

and named ''Procolobus pennantii ssp. bouvieri''. In 2007,

Colin Groves Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was Professor of Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Education Born in Englan ...

reclassified it as a distinct species. Groves considers '' Piliocolobus'' to be a full genus, while other authors see it as a subgenus of ''Procolobus'', and thus assigned Bouvier's red colobus the scientific name ''Piliocolobus bouvieri'' (this nomenclature has been followed here).

Status

In IUCN's 2008 and 2016 assessments, Bouvier's red colobus was classified as critically endangered with a note saying it was "possibly extinct". No individuals had been seen in the wild since the 1970s and was thought to have lost at least 80% of its population since then, due to hunting and habitat loss. Possible sightings were reported by F. Petter and F. Vincent in the 2000s, but the sightings were considerably south of the species' previously known range and could not be confirmed. In 2019, IUCN updated the assessment from critically endangered to endangered, citing that "its known geographic range now includes previously unknown populations in northern Republic of Congo", but they also mentioned that it is a rarely-reported species, despite intensifying surveying.

Rediscovery

In February 2015, Lieven Devreese of Belgium and Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo of the Republic of the Congo launched an expedition to search for Bouvier's red colobus. Starting from the town of Owando, the explorers soon spotted the monkey while travelling on the Bokiba River in Ntokou-Pikounda National Park. They announced the find on March 3 via Indiegogo, which together with the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological ...

helped raise funds for the expedition. In April, the explorers revealed the first ever photograph of the species – a mother with her infant in a tree. Bouvier's red colobus was previously known to scientists only from a handful of museum specimens collected between the late 1800s and early 1900s, although the species was known to the people living in the Bokiba River area. In May 2021 WWF investigator Jaap van der Waarde managed to capture a monkey on video.

References

External links

"The elusive red colobus monkey expedition"
at Indiegogo {{Taxonbar, from=Q15789560 Bouvier's red colobus Endemic fauna of the Republic of the Congo Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Critically endangered fauna of Africa Bouvier's red colobus Primates of Africa