{"id":529747,"date":"2026-07-16T22:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529747\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T22:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:53:10","slug":"new-monkey-discovered-with-orange-lips-in-democratic-republic-of-congo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/529747\/","title":{"rendered":"New monkey discovered with orange lips in Democratic Republic of Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tessa Flemming, ABC News<\/p>\n

A newly discovered species of monkey with striking orange lips has been found in the east-central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n

The monkey – colobus congoensis – is only the fifth new species of African monkey to be discovered in the past 75 years.<\/p>\n

The discovery all began with a blurry photo in 2008.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation were exploring the lush rainforests of the Lomami National Park region when the came across the monkey.<\/p>\n

While the photo was partially obscured, the field team strongly believed it was a species of monkey not previously known to researchers.<\/p>\n

However, it would be about a decade until a field researcher again photographed the monkey in November 2018.<\/p>\n

Colobus congoensis, who bears a mask-like appearance with an orange cream patch surrounding the mouth, was then documented seven more times in different locations in the region.<\/p>\n

Junior Amboko, co-corresponding author of the findings first published in PLoS One<\/a>, said the discovery was a testament to DRC’s “remarkable natural heritage”.<\/p>\n

“This discovery is both exciting and deeply personal, highlighting the extraordinary biodiversity of my homeland and how much remains undocumented,” he said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amboko told the BBC<\/a> the species’ was “kind of shy” and tended to hide in high trees.<\/p>\n

“As part of our search, we interviewed people in 52 villages close to where the animals live. And only people in eight villages [had ever seen] them.”<\/p>\n

The people of the Balanga ethnic group who knew of the monkey referred to it by the name Likweli.<\/p>\n

The monkey is one in the colobus group, and most closely resembles the colobus satanas (black colobus), found in west-central Africa and Equatorial Guinea’s Bioko Island.<\/p>\n

However, genetic, anatomical and acoustic analyses confirmed the colobus congoensis likely diverged from its closest known relative around 4 to 5 million years ago.<\/p>\n

Unlike the colobus satanas or other colobus monkeys, the colobus congoensis is much smaller, at about 6.8 kilograms, and distinguished by light-reflecting fur, long black facial hairs and large folded ears.<\/p>\n

\"Colobus<\/p>\n

Colobus congoensis now faces habitat loss and conservation concerns.<\/p>\n

Daniel Rosengre\/Frankfurt Zoological Society<\/p>\n

Conservation concerns<\/p>\n

Between 2018 and 2022, researchers recorded 114 sightings across an estimated range of just 1700 square kilometres – an unusually small range for colobus monkeys.<\/p>\n

It appeared naturally isolated by rivers and forest barriers and dependent on scattered upland forest patches in the Congo Basin.<\/p>\n

According to locals interviewed, it appeared the species was not specifically targeted by hunters.<\/p>\n

Still, as it enters scientific record books, researchers already fear ongoing habitat loss and its small population may put it at risk.<\/p>\n

At least 15 new villages were added near the Lomami National Park buffer zone between 2015 and 2023, researchers say.<\/p>\n

They have proposed placing colobus congoensis on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.<\/p>\n

“The discovery of colobus congoensis is both a scientific triumph and a sobering reminder that some of Earth’s rarest creatures may vanish before the world even knows they exist,” said Kate Detwiler, corresponding author and an associate professor of biological sciences in Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E Schmidt College of Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Tessa Flemming, ABC News A newly discovered species of monkey with striking orange lips has been found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-529747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}