According to science reports, a new species of monkey, the lesula, has been discovered in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, only the second new species of African monkey to be discovered in the past 28 years.
The formal name of this Old-World monkey is Cercopithecus lomamiensis. Facially, it resembles the owl-face monkey (C. hamlyni), and like the owl-face, lesula has a distinctive blue genital region and buttocks.
The monkey's habitat is confined to 17, 000 square kilometres of forest between the Lomami and Tshuapa rivers. The habitat is rich in primates but also vulnerable due to uncontrolled bushmeat hunting.
The Old World monkeys, the Cercopithedans, are closer to apes than the New World Monkeys; it has been suggested that it might be better to call Old World monkeys "tailed apes." Old World monkeys like the lesula are the living descendants of the link between monkeys and apes, and as we look into their eyes, we see a sentient being looking into ours.
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