ADRIAN MA, HOST:
What animal has orange lips, a long black tail and croaks like a frog? How about a newly discovered species of monkey?
(SOUNDBITE OF CROAKING)
MA: Weird, right? Now, that word, discover, actually underplays how big a deal this is. Because even after scientists found this monkey, proving it was, in fact, a new species of primate took years. NPR's Henry Larson explains why.
HENRY LARSON, BYLINE: Kate Detwiler's team of researchers is in the monkey business - that is, the business of finding monkeys.
KATE DETWILER: It is really rare.
LARSON: She's a biological anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University. And to hear her tell it, discovering a new primate is a lot like cracking a case.
DETWILER: The detective story began in 2008, when the Lukuru Foundation had this blurry photo of an animal that was not clear at all.
LARSON: That was almost 20 years ago, when a wildlife research group, the Lukuru Foundation, went into a remote rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But then the monkey vanished.
DETWILER: Fast-forward 10 years.
LARSON: In 2018, the foundation's members were in that same forest, and they struck gold.
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DETWILER: And then they got the clear photos. It was this group on the ground that recognized they had something really different. And Junior was there.
LARSON: Junior - Junior Amboko - field conservationist from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
DETWILER: So I think he should tell that part.
JUNIOR AMBOKO: But the difference with the picture we're looking at was that this one had this yellow mask around the lips.
LARSON: The monkey Amboko saw resembled other smaller, black-and-white, tree-based primates, part of a genus named colobus. But this new monkey had patches of skin, yellowish-orange and white around its mouth and eyes and very distinct hands. No other colobus looked like it. Some local villagers - the few who knew about this type of monkey - called it Likweli. One October day, as part of their research, Amboko and his team went out into the forest to look for Likweli.
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AMBOKO: So when I came across Likweli, I stayed for over two hours. I couldn't leave. That was like - it's hard to spot them. But once you spot them, they can stay for hours. They're like, OK, we know that you need our pictures. So just take your pictures. They know how to position themselves.
(SOUNDBITE OF LIKWELI CROAKING)
LARSON: This audio was recorded by the Congolese research team.
(SOUNDBITE OF LIKWELI CROAKING)
DETWILER: We call it the roar of the colobus. It's a really distinct sound in the rainforest. And if you're there with colobus - it depends on the morning - at 5 a.m. and you can hear it loud above your tent.
LARSON: After a while, Amboko joined Kate Detwiler's primate lab as they catalogued their findings, and they hit it off.
DETWILER: He and I have been hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, however you want to say it.
LARSON: Over the course of about half a decade, the team made more observations, collected samples and did DNA and bone analysis - all sorts of tests to show that Likweli is significantly distinct from other colobus species. This week, their study finally published, and they gave Likweli the scientific name Colobus congoensis. They also recommended the monkey be classified as endangered, given its relatively small habitat and behavior.
AMBOKO: It just, like, an amazing, fascinating process.
LARSON: And Amboko and Detwiler celebrated their big moment - years and years in the making - at a local brewery. They listened to Congolese music and shared some mango juice.
AMBOKO: I am so excited, and I'm so grateful for my mentor. At some point, I would just feel like crying, like, tears. And when I saw her, it was just a very important moment that I will never forget.
DETWILER: Well, I made the mango juice for you, but I meant it in the hug.
LARSON: It's safe to say they were pretty happy.
DETWILER: The biggest reward was to have him there for all of it.
LARSON: Henry Larson, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA'S PERFORMANCE OF THE SHERMAN BROTHERS SONG, "I WAN'NA BE LIKE YOU") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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