A species of monkey discovered in Tanzania over a year ago has turned out to be more exciting than originally thought. Initially, the monkey was thought to be related to mangabeys. However, it was later found to be more closely related to baboons. Now, after further genetic testing, scientists have found that the monkey, properly called Rungwecebus kipunji, is so unique that it deserves an entirely new genus and species classification. Rungwecebus kipunji... looks like a word verification, doesn't it?!
If you're a science nerd like me, you know this discovery is a big deal.
If you're not quite so nerdy... well, you could probably give a rat's ass.
I think it's pretty damn cool.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Calling All Science Nerds
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4 comments:
What about it makes it so different that it's being classified as a new genus?
Never mind...I realized there was a link, and read the article. Then I subscribed to the newsletter. I didn't even know it existed before now. You learn something new every day...
Info from a BBC article that might help explain this issue further.
"When scientists spotted the animals in 2005, they originally placed them in the Lophocebus genus, commonly known as managabeys, but they were only able to study them from photographs.
However, the discovery of a dead Kipunji in a farmer's trap meant more extensive genetic and morphological tests could take place.
CLASSIFYING MONKEYS
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Rungwecebus
Species: R. kipunji
Tim Davenport, lead author of the paper, who is from the Wildlife Conservation Society and is based in Tanzania, said: "We first came across the monkey a couple of years ago - the realisation that it was a new species was really exciting.
"Since then we knew it would only be a matter of time before we got hold of a dead animal - because they are hunted - and once we had and we started looking at it more closely, we realised it was a new genus. That was just incredible - it is something that really doesn't happen that often."
Bill Stanley, an author on the paper, and mammal collections manager at the Field Museum, Chicago, US, said hearing the news that the monkey belonged to a new genus "sent shivers down my spine".
"Simply put, the genetics said that it was closely related to baboons, but the skull wasn't anything like a baboon. The conclusions we drew from the genetic and morphological data meant that it had to be named as a new genus."
And they can whack off at the zoo in front of your children as well as any other monkey.
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