DOCUMENTING A NEW MONKEY SPECIES!
Likweli (Colobus congoensis)
DOCUMENTING A NEW MONKEY SPECIES!
In 2021 I went on an expedition into the heart of Congo. After two days on narrow trails with a motorbike, a 37 km (23 miles) hike through the rainforest and then several days downstream the Lomami river in a dugout canoe I arrived where a new species of monkey had been observed. My mission was to document it photographically. After two days of failed attempts I woke up in my tent feeling feverish. I didn’t know it then, but it was the first stages of malaria. But it was the last chance to find the monkey before we had to move on. I followed a team of trackers, rangers and scientists, slowly cutting our way through the rainforest with machetes. Finally we heard them, loud croaking calls. But they were shy and hiding high up in the canopy. The bright sky behind and branches and foliage in the way made the photo conditions very difficult. But in the end I had a few decent shots that could be used for the article describing the species in Plos One. The name? Colobus congoensis, locally known as Likweli.
This is an absolute highlight in my life, documenting a new species of a large mammal, a dream I thought would never materialize. A huge thanks to the team and the Frankfurt Zoological Society for letting me be a part of this.
