Environment

Confirming the Swamp Monkeys

by Jordan Yerman | July 23, 2008 at 07:00 am

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Okay, technically "swamp lemurs". Last year, scientists discovered what they believed to be an as-yet-undiscovered species of lemur living in the eastern Madagascar wetlands. It took time to confirm that the species was indeed new, and not either a hoax or an error. Eschewing the Fishy and Needs Improvement options, these lemurs have been flagged by scientists as Good Stuff.

The 2007 finding comes after years of rumors that the so-called greater bamboo lemur had been sighted in the Torotorofotsy wetlands. Now that it's confirmed, the newfound group has renewed experts' hopes that the species will survive.
"Finding the extremely rare Prolemur simus in a place where nobody expected it was probably more exciting than discovering a new lemur species," conservation geneticist Edward Louis of Henry Doorly Zoo said in a statement.

Evidently, Madagascar is a hotbed of lemur activity, as three species (aside from the species discussed above) were discovered there in 2006.

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