Five raw specie of the notoriously elusive sake , or “ wing , ” monkey have been officially described in a comprehensive new sketch .
These swift , unsure primates can be get hold graciously leaping through the tropical forest of northern and centralSouth America . It is thanks to their tightlipped nature that these monkeys have evaded scientists ’ microwave radar for so many year , intend that they have stay a poorly study group of animals .
Saki monkeys areNew World monkeysbelonging to the genusPithecia . They’resmallprimates , weighing in at around 1.5 - 4.0 kilo as an adult , and have long dress suit that often exceed their body duration . Sakis can be easy realize by their long , fluffy coating that they chuff out when approached , making them look larger and more threatening . Somespecieshavecolorful facial hair , whereas others have defenseless face that are neatly hooded with fur .
Despite over200 yearsof work into the taxonomy of rice beer , there has been considerable confusion over some species . Furthermore , few long - condition field studies of these primates exist . In ordering to fill in knowledge crack , behavioral ecologist Laura Marsh painstakingly examined 876 rice beer skins and 690 skulls from museum specimen that were propagate across 17 dissimilar countries . She also scoured hundreds of mellow - resolution photographs of both captive and wild sakis .
Organizing the Munro family tree was no mean effort . Many species were found to beremarkably divers , making it difficult to delegate specimen to a finicky coinage . Furthermore , some females have large , protruding clitorises that were often be amiss as a penis . Field study were also particularly tricky since the surreptitious sakis have a riding habit of tone down their vocalizations when researchers approach them .
Despite the setbacks , Marsh produced a comprehensive alteration of these primates , which has been published in the journalNeotropical Primates . She found that there are 16 known species ofPithecia , five of which are newly identified . The previously undescribedspeciesare the Cazuza ’s saki , Mittermeier ’s Tapajós rice beer , Rylands ’ denudate - faced Munro , Pissinatti ’s bald - faced Munro and Isabel ’s saki .
“ This revision of the genus shows understandably how little we still acknowledge about the diverseness of the natural world that border us and upon we ourselves count on so much,”said Russell Mittermeier , president of Conservation International . One of the species , P. mittermeieri , was named after Mittermeier , and the others were named after outstanding primatologists and conservationists .
While we still be intimate little about saki behavior and status , field of study such as this are vital for preservation efforts . “ If we ca n’t name it , we ca n’t save it , ” Marsh toldNational Geographic . “ If we ’re calling everyone one specie and it ’s really ten dissimilar things , you have just lost part of the biodiversity on Earth . ” next field will therefore aim to gather selective information on species abundance and also investigate their exposure .
[ ViaNeotropical Primates , National GeographicandDiscovery News ]
