This discovery was made during the first expedition that John and Terese Hart, Yale conservation biologists working for Lukuru Foundation, carried out in a remote forested area of DR Congo.
A new forest monkey is the latest discovery of a team of international scientists in DR Congo. The news has been highlighted in a report in Plos One scientific online journal earlier this week. The researchers found the primate known locally as Lesula, earlier unknown to science which they named Cercopithecus Lomamiensis.The scientists spoke with the Voice of Russia about the new monkey. Dr. Christopher Gilbert from the Department of Anthropology of Hunter College in New York is one of the authors of the report. In an interview with the Voice of Russia he said, “This new species was unknown to the outside world. But it was well-known locally and the locals hunted it quite a bit, which is a problem going forward.“In 2007, John and Terese Hart, field biologists working in the Congo, and their field team, came across an interesting monkey that has been kept as a pet in a local town. They noticed it looked somewhat like the owl faced monkey which is found much further to the East, but it looked quite different from them”, explained the anthropologist. In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, John Hart explained that he first saw this monkey in 2007 during the first expedition he and his wife undertook in this part of DR Congo. At that time, the scientists noticed that this primate was different from other species they knew, and they decided to track 
This monkey is different from already known species. It was quite a beautiful animal according to Dr.John Hart.
this animal. “The new monkey compared to its closest relative, has a much paler face and a sort of pale creamed-colored stripe on its nose: unlike, its closest relative, who has a very dark face and a clear kind of white stripe on its nose. So the whole face is different. TheLesula has also a sort of blond-golden colored mane around the face. And on its back, it has a really beautiful sort of red, amber colored stripe. And he has really big eyes, much bigger eyes than the eyes of the owl faced monkeys.” Furthermore, the Cercopithecus Lomamienshas a particular behavior and way of life. As Dr. Gilbert pointed out, “We know right now that they appear to spend a lot of time on the ground and that’s interesting because for the all group of monkeys, there is not a lot of them who spend that lot of time in the ground, most of them are strictly tree-living.” This discovery is quite a success for the scientists involved in the project. Actually the Lesula is the second species of primate to be found in Africa over the past 28 years. On the one hand, this discovery positively shows that the scientific progress is still getting further and further. But on the other hand, it is also an illustration that hunters are going further too, and hunt in even more remote areas, than the place where the Lesula lives. As Dr. John Hart described, in the region, the bush meat hunters are poaching beyond control. And this is a big threat for the local biodiversity. That is why the scientific project led in Congo by Terese and John Hart and their team, aims both to document the biodiversity and to prevent the area from further ecological damage. Thus, this discovery shows how vital it is to protect nature, particularly in Africa. More information about the project can be found on the website of the Lukuru Foundation and on the website of Terese and John Hart’s project (Searching for Bonobos in Congo) Source: Voice of Russia,
