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Scientists Just Discovered a New Monkey Species Hiding in the Congo Rainforest

The monkey is so unique-looking that the oversight feels almost embarrassing in hindsight.

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Scientists have just confirmed the existence of an entirely new monkey species in the Congo rainforest. The monkey, for its part, looks like it would have preferred to stay undiscovered.

Meet Colobus congoensis, now officially the newest primate species on record, confirmed this week in the journal PLOS One by a team of researchers from institutions across the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States. The Bangala people who share its territory in east-central DRC have long called it “Likweli.” The Mituku had another name—”kasaba nkoni,” meaning branch-shaker—which is frankly a better name than most species get. It’s only the fifth new monkey species identified in Africa in the last 75 years.

The monkey is so unique-looking that the oversight feels almost embarrassing in hindsight. Likweli has sleek black........

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