Extinct Dracula monkey found in Borneo

[truebluefan]

The humidity was oppressive and the leeches insufferable as an expedition led by Simon Fraser University PhD student Brent Loken waded into the jungles of the Wehea Forest in eastern Borneo.

Loken sought to document the forest's biodiversity and help the indigenous Dayak people advocate for its legal protection against Indonesian development for palm oil plantations, coal mines, or logging.

With remote cameras set up in the forest near two mineral licks, Loken had hoped to obtain photos of the elusive and littleknown clouded leopard.

What he got was a monkey--the Miller's grizzled langur--so rare that scientists consider it to be teetering on the edge of extinction. Even rarer, the discovery occurred where the monkey, which some say looks like Dracula, had not historically been documented.

"We knew we had something special," Loken, 40, recalled Thursday in an interview. "We knew it was unique because it is a very distinct-looking monkey."

Read more: http://www.canada.com/technology/Extinct+Dracula+monkey+found+Borneo/6026572/story.html