Odd New Monkey Species Discovered, Then Eaten

10/29/2010

This week reports of a strange new monkey species that has been documented by science for the first time are creating a buzz in the wildlife world.  Without doubt, the monkey is an odd one. Named Rhinopithecus strykeri, it's one of the snub-nosed monkeys, which get their common name from their weird-looking, upturned noses.  In the case of this new species, those noses are something of a detriment to their survival.  During the rainy season these monkeys sneeze constantly as water drips into their unprotected nostrils, making it easy for local hunters to find and shoot them.

In fact, the only known photo of this species shows a dead one that became dinner shortly after the photo was taken (see right).

The very fact that such a large mammal--a primate no less--has gone undiscovered by science for so long makes this an odd story, but as strange as it sounds that there can still be large animals out there that the world at large doesn't know about, it's a fact that there are still places on the planet that haven't been fully explored (particularly the oceans and remote, mountainous forests) and that new species are still being discovered every year. 

Many of these newly discovered species are critically endangered, including R. strykeri, which is believed to only exist in this one population of a few hundred individuals living in the forested Himalayas of Northern Myanmar.  It's all the more reason that we need to continue serious conservation efforts to protect species.

But at the risk of sounding ethnocentric, to me the oddest thing of all about this discovery is the thought of eating one of these things.  It just looks too closely related to us!

Photo by Ngwe Lwin via National Geographic.

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

This post has generated a lot of commentary, both here as well as on Animal Planet's Facebook page.  Unfortunately, many of the comments are uninformed, ethnocentric (see definition above) and even flat-out racist and I feel the need to directly address it. 

IF YOU WRITE A RACIST COMMENT, IT WILL BE DELETED AND MARKED AS SPAM.

I posted the following important information in the comments section and elsewhere:

Every human culture kills and eats animals. That doesn't make it right or wrong but attacking one ethnic group for eating one kind of animal is the very definition of ethnocentrism. It's also hypocritical, since Western-style industrial agriculture poses huge environmental and animal welfare issues too (in which you participate even if you're a vegetarian). But most of all, such comments are, frankly, ignorant and a completely ineffective way of solving the problem of bushmeat.

Here is some more information on the bushmeat crisis and the strategies that work to actually solve the problem (note: they don't include ethnocentric/racist snipes).

Comments

[Raymond Ho]

I am very interested to see what the evolutionary purposed of R. strykeri's snub-nosed is (or lack of nose). Can't wait to read more papers about them.

I also wonder if the nose and pelage is the effect of population bottleneck from other snub-nosed species. So what questions ... so little answers :)

[Solidus]

It comes as no surprise that Asians are eating the poor damned things.

[Snake]

@Solidus

"Poor damned things" such as chickens, cows, fish, pigs, & etc...?

Oh these poor damned things got eaten on a global industrial scale!

So non-asians are all vegetarians?

[David Mizejewski]

@Solidus - You're the reason why I linked to the definition of ethnocentric in this post.

Every human culture kills and eats animals. That doesn't make it right or wrong but attacking one ethnic group for eating one kind of animal is the very definition of ethnocentrism. It's also hypocritical, since Western-style industrial agriculture poses huge environmental and animal welfare issues too (in which you participate even if you're a vegetarian). But most of all, comments like yours are, frankly, ignorant and a completely ineffective way of solving the problem of bushmeat.

Here's some more information on the bushmeat crisis and the strategies that work to actually solve the problem (note: they don't include ethnocentric snipes).

http://www.bushmeat.org/

[Bruno]

om nom nom nom

[Sujen]

hardly discovered if so many people already know about them. there cannot just be a single photograph of these animals. i'm sure whoever had the camera didn't take just 1 picture.

[David Mizejewski]

@Sujen - the concept of "discovered" is of course totally subjective. Clearly, the local people have known about this species for hundreds if not thousands of years. Discovered really means "recognized and described by modern science" but that's obviously not practical to write out all the time. That said, I tried to capture the that nuance in the language I chose in the first sentence.

[Hmm]

Well I guess the evolutionary purpose of those snubby upturned noses is to make room for other species. I'm surprised they haven't died out already from all the sneezing giving away their positions.

[tomb]

Hey snake, guess what, I'm pretty sure there are more cows and chickens out there than ENDANGERED MONKEYS.

[Raymond Ho]

@Sujen - If you look at the paper by Geissmann et al. (2010), there are a few pics of R. strykeri but unfortunately they are just different angles of the dead one you see on top.

LOL @ Hmm. Sad, but true.

[Yvi]

I´m a proud vegetarian.We don´t need to eat meat at all!I´m 48 years old look like 30-35 all my teath is in a great condition,I never got sick and I was vegetarian since I was 5 years old!!

[Aubrey]

They should go to jail for killing an endangered species...just because they are poor and that is their only food source does not give them the right to do this...they need to get an education and a good job to buy them real food like the rest of us...but until they do that these poor animals have to suffer...it ain't right !!!

[Erin O.]

I studied this picture and the primate makes little sense, in fact are we sure this is actually a primate with no nose or a primate that has been disfigured? I know evolution has always had its oddities and dead ends but it baffles me as to why this primate looks the way it does. It would be nice to see this creature Alive and well in its natural habitat so that we may understand and appreciate it better.

[David H.]

@Yvi Well, bully for you. However, poor Linda McCartney wasn't so lucky. She was a card-carrying vegetarian/vegan. She died at the age of 56 of CANCER. Your genes play a large part of your overall health during your lifetime -- whether or not you CHOOSE to be a vegetarian.

[John]

@Aubrey. So it's alright to put a human being in jail for eating endangered species because they are poor, lack of food, uneducated, and doesn't have a real job like the rest of us?

[Charlie]

@Yvi Good for you and I admire you because of your determination, but what David H. said is a sadly true.. Being vegetarian doesn't skip you to be as responsible as people that commonly eat meat, no matter how often. We are now so many people in the world that Earth has to do the most to accomplish the goal of feeding everybody but animals too, and if we are still growing, not only as world population but also as local cultural ethnic groups told to eat one or more specific species whether animal or vegetable, this planet will be closer and closer to its end. Hate to be pessimistic but that's what I see.. Pd:: spanishspeaker, so sorry for the mistakes :P

[Maria]

What confuses me is that these villagers apparently were abe to find and kill this monkey, and the article says they're easy to spot because of the sneezing.... yet NO SCIENTIST is able to nab one?

Hmmmm.....

[Solidus]

We should intervene now! I hereby propose a solution which involves a rapid deployment of alternative food stuffs to the area. I call this measure, "Operation Spam Drop"!

[Anonymous]

Very strange that this monkey has a Michael Jackson looking nose...if Michael's fell off :)

[Jonny]

Ya, more BS commentary from no talent scientists. They only found about this species after they saw this very picture. Pathetic. And the only comment they can muster up now is that they are endangered? How come these brilliant scientists couldn't found them before? And now all they can lament on is why these villagers are hunting them for food? Again, pathetic. It's beyond ethnocentric... it's racist. And just plain retarded.

[daniel Lumban Gaol]

Why people are so ignorant, how can they kill an innocent and unique creature from the wild like this and ate it.
I am sorry to say this but some people are really need to be punish hard ( put in jail ) for doing such horrible act and stupid.

[ed]

We always as humans (all races) destroy what we don't understand before we try to understand. All creatures have right to life. We as Americans whom most of us simply only go to the grocery store for our food can't put our thoughts and values on other people whom have to hunt to live. We eat pigs that are as intelligent as dolphins so what are we folks. We should help these people to cultivate and grow their own food not just judge them for wanting to feed their families.

[Pearl Neidlinger]

Now that this species has been found, I am hoping that if they are endangered it will become illegal to eat them. Also to benefit the local people that do eat them it wouls be really good if they were studied and tourism could become an income for the locals. That would provide income for food. Also I believe if these local people are educated about primates they will help prevent the hunting of these primates. It could be a win, win, for the animals and the humans that live and try to surivie in that area. Another thing, who know what types of diseases the locals could get by eating these monkeys. It's well documented that in other area alot of the locals that eat primates/monkeys get some weird illnesses. But I wonder about our world and the humans in it. Why do we always take more from nature than we should? One day it will be the end of human beings.

[Raymond Ho]

@Erin, this primate does have a nose albeit a snub nosed. There are already 4 other species of snub-nosed monkeys (genus Rhinopithecus) that range from China, Vietnam and Myanmar.

@Maria - Maybe the rainy season is over so they are not sneezing :P

@Jonny - Actual the researchers (Geissmann et al.) that described this new species were out counting hoolock gibbons! They had only known about this species after talking to local villagers.

I don't think we should be so hard on the researchers and villagers. I mean, this is something good that came out of the research. Also, there are large parts of Asia that are yet "discovered" by modern scientists so it's not uncommon to hear these scientists bringing back information on new species and new culture.

How many of us are aware of the wildlife around us? Are we keen enough to understand and realize all the species of animals that occur around us as we stroll down the streets of metropolitan cities, country roads or even the path home? New species are "discovered" because some people finally paid attention.

As to why these villagers have to eat the animals ... the villagers of Pade, Myanmar is not as lucky as us Americans. They can't buy food in grocery stores (OMG no organic food?!?!) nor can do collect cheese and bread from the government. They are left to collect their own food. These snub-nosed monkeys just happens to be there. If the villagers don't eat ... they die.

[Wolfie]

I am sorry but eating a fellow primate is nothing in comparison to eating chickens, cows, or swine. These primates are relatively speaking in the same class of species as humans. Its like eating your own, otherwise known as cannibalism.