Gum-eating Tanzanian monkey is AWOL, fueling extinction fears

For more than a year, there have been no confirmed sightings of the critically endangered southern patas monkeys in their last known refuge, in western Tanzania. In 2021, fewer than 200 of these lithe-limbed primates, Erythrocebus baumstarki, were thought to remain in the open woodlands of this region, and scientists now fear the species is edging closer to extinction. The southern patas was once confused with the closely related eastern patas monkey, Erythrocebus patas pyrrhonotus, which is found more widely across parts of East and Central Africa, from central Kenya to northeastern Chad. They look similar, and also live in open woodlands at roughly the same elevation. But even before 2015, when southern patas were still present in Kenya, the two species were separated by hundreds of kilometers. They almost certainly never mingled. Their similar appearance — and other similarities such as their large home ranges and their habit of feeding on the gum of whistling thorn trees, Acacia drepanolobium — was partly responsible for the lack of concerted conservation action needed to protect the southern patas. The fact that the species is shy and rarely seen meant taxonomic research to determine its status as a separate species was lacking. But Yvonne de Jong and fellow primatologist Tom Butynski worked to have the southern patas recognized as a full species in 2021, and to have it included on the list of “Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2022-2023.” Southern patas monkey (Erythrocebus baumstarki) in Tanzania’s Grumeti Game…This article was originally published on Mongabay