Summary:
A new monkey species was discovered in Myanmar recently. This monkey is not an ordinary monkey though, it is very unique and diverse. It is a type of snub-nosed monkey and is called Rhinopithecus strykeri. What makes this monkey different is the way its nose is upturned and points upwards. As a result, this monkey sneezes every time it rains! How weird is that? Since their noses are upturned, they can easily inhale the rain without trying to, so to avoid doing so, they must sit and put their heads in between their legs and look downwards whenever it rains. This monkey was discovered by the Myanmar Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association, primatologists from Fauna and Flora International, and the People Resources and Biodiversity Foundation. This research team was originally studying gibbons, when residents reported sightings of the monkeys. By the descriptions the residents gave them, the researchers figured they had been seeing the snub-nosed monkey, however that monkey is only found in China and Vietnam. They soon discovered that it was a new monkey, who was only a type of the snub-nosed monkey. These monkeys are about 21 inches in length, with 30 inch tails. They have black fur with white ear tufts, and their faces are naked and pink, except for the thin white mustache. Although they are newly discovered, there are only about 330 of them in the whole world, making them endangered. They are threatened by planned dam deconstruction and logging roads.
Reflection:
I think that this next discovery is great and very interesting, and I love the fact that there are still new animals out there that we don't know about yet. When I think about how many different species live on the earth, a large number comes to mind, and it is mind boggling to know that there are even more species that still remain unknown. This monkey in particular is very interesting and I have never heard of nor seen anything like it. I think it is very different and somewhat amusing that the monkey sneezes whenever it rains, that must be cool to see! I also think its different how the monkey has to stick his head between his knees when it rains. That must be horrible, because when it rains they have to sit like that for possibly hours at a time! It is also interesting how their tails are even longer than their bodies, because not many animals are like that. I personally hope that these animals can breed and become more common because they sound very interesting and I would like to see more of them.
Questions:
1. What are your thoughts about a monkey of this type and diversity?
2. What connections can you make of this animal and another animal? (Similarities between this monkey and another animal)
3. What can we do to discover new species?
Link:
I think that this is a great discovery! I would have never thought that a new monkey species like this would be discovered. The monkeys definitely need to be conserved so their species can live on. They deserve to live just as much as we do. When I go to the zoo, I always love seeing all the monkeys there, I know I would be pretty upset if they became extinct. Although I have never seen this new species, I'm still just as interested.
ReplyDeleteSince I would love to learn more about this topic, I went onto other websites to get more information. Here is a link to one that I found:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/105873798.htmlThis website gives a little more information and I learned a pretty interesting fact from it. In the local dialect, around the area of Northern Myanmar, they call the monkey "mey nwoah", which means "monkey with an upturned face."
Here is also another link to a different picture I found:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/images/2010/1027/263428_1.jpg?ts=1288203699
This picture is a drawing from someone who has seen what their whole body look like. I think this is pretty interesting because you can really see what the whole monkey looks like and how big their tails really are.
3) I think that to discover new species, we should step up on our animal sciences. Right now, many people are focused on saving the earth, global warming, and conserving things. This is definitely very important, but we still need to focus on discovery other species that we may not know about. If they don't already, then they should have a whole organization dedicated just to finding new species. Not only is it fun to learn about, but it will also help us learn and understand more about the world and the animals that live on it.
I'm pretty curious about this, and I have a few more questions that you guys might be able to answer.
How do you think this monkey was created? How long has it existed before human discovery?
Do you think that by survival of the fittest, their noses will eventually adjust so they won't turn up anymore?
How can we decrease the human activity that is threatening these monkeys?
You may hate me for saying this, but I find these monkeys very ugly. I could hardly even look at the picture in the post, so you could imagine my horror when I saw a photo of the closely related snub nosed monkeys: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/fs/sheets/images/230lg.jpg
ReplyDeleteI'm not an animal person at all. I honestly don't understand why the ones that don't serve a purpose even exist in the first place. This also mentioned that they are endangered. I honestly don't think it's necessary to make an effort to save an animal that we just found out aboutand doesn't serve a purpose.
I think it is a great thing that we have discovered. I also thought it would take a longer time to discover a new species. Here is another site that has more information. http://www.bukisa.com/articles/384477_discovered-a-new-monkey-that-sneezes-when-it-rains
ReplyDeleteI learned form this website that they like to spend their summers in high alltitude and winters in low alltitude so it is easier to get food. I don't know how we can keep finding new animals all I can say is that we should protect the ones we have and their habitat so in the future the animals can breed with each other to create diffrent animals.
I agree with Luke they are weird looking, but so important to biodiversity, they must play some role, right? food chain maybe?
ReplyDelete