The kipunji (''Rungwecebus kipunji''), also known as the highland mangabey, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of Old World monkey that lives in the highland forests of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. The kipunji has a unique call, described as a 'honk-bark', which distinguishes it from its relatives, the grey-cheeked mangabey and the black crested mangabey, whose calls are described as 'whoop-gobbles'. The kipunji was independently discovered by researchers from 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 ...

, the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, and

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The org ...

, in December 2003 and July 2004, making it the first new African monkey species discovered since the sun-tailed monkey in 1984. Originally assigned to the genus '' Lophocebus'', genetic and morphological data showed that it is more closely related to the

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

s (genus ''Papio'') than to the other mangabeys in the genus ''Lophocebus''. Scientists subsequently assigned it to a new genus, ''Rungwecebus'', named after Mount Rungwe, where it is found. The kipunji is the first new monkey genus to be discovered since

Allen's swamp monkey The Allen's swamp monkey (''Allenopithecus nigroviridis'') is a species of Old World monkey and the only member of the genus ''Allenopithecus''. Phylogenetically, it is a sister clade to the guenons, but differs in dentition and habits. Allen's ...

in 1923. Zoologists were initially skeptical of the existence of the kipunji until its discovery, as traditional tales of the

Nyakyusa people The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngonde or Nkonde) are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the fertile mountains of southern Tanzania. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of the Bantu language family. In 1993 the Nyakusa populatio ...

described the monkey as both real and mythical.

Physical description

Adult male kipunjis have been observed at an average length of 85 to 90 cm and are estimated to weigh between 10 and 16 kg. The kipunji's relatively long

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

is light or medium brown with white on the end of the tail and the ventrum. Pelage close to the hands and feet tends to be a medium to dark brown. Hands, feet, and face are all black. These primates do not appear to show any

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

in relation to pelage coloration. One feature, in combination with their pelage coloration, that helps to separate kipunjis from their ''Cercocebus'' and ''Lophocebus'' relatives is the broad crest of hair on the crown of their heads.

Distribution

Around 1,100 of the animals live in the highland Ndundulu Forest Reserve, a forest adjacent to

Udzungwa Mountains National Park Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a national park in Tanzania with a size of 1,990 km2 (770 miles2). The habitats contained within the national park include tropical rainforest, mountain forest, miombo woodland, grassland and steppe ...

, and in a disjunct population 250 miles away on Mount Rungwe and in Kitulo National Park, which is adjacent to it. The forest at Rungwe is highly degraded, and fragmentation of the remaining forest threatens to split that population into three smaller populations. The Ndundulu forest is in better shape, but the population there is smaller.

Conservation

The kipunji is classified as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

by the IUCN. In 2008, a Wildlife Conservation Society team found that the monkey's range is restricted to just 6.82 mi² (17.7 km²) of forest in the two isolated regions, the Ndundulu forest and the Rungwe-Livingstone forest. The Ndundulu forest is the smaller of the two and was found to support a population of 75 individuals, ranging from 15 to 25 individuals per group. The Rungwe-Livingstone forest is suspected to contain 1,042 individuals in Rungwe-Kitulo, ranging from 25 to 39 individuals per group. All areas where the kipunji is found are considered protected areas, but no management operations are currently in effect. Several factors contribute to the projected decline of the species, including predation, habitat destruction, and hunting. The kipunji has only two known predators: crowned eagles ('' Stephanoaetus coronatus'') and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

s ('' Panthera pardus''). The biggest threats to the species come from human activities. Logging for timber and charcoal production are the most prominent threats, but locals are also known to hunt the kipunji due to its crop-destroying habits or simply as a food source. Continued habitat loss is anticipated to cause a loss of the Bujingijila Corridor that links two populations in the Mount Rungwe and Livingstone forests. The species was included in the list of " The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates" in 2006 and 2008.

References

External links

WCS profile of Highland MangabeyNational Science Foundation press releaseHighland Mangabey's honk-bark
(in . WAV format)
Video of Highland Mangabey
(in

MPEG The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and f ...

format)
ITIS Report: Rungwecebus kipunji
{{Taxonbar, from=Q155399 Papionini Primates of Africa Endemic fauna of Tanzania Mammals of Tanzania Critically endangered fauna of Africa Mammals described in 2005