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Colourful Monkey with “human” eye: How

 Georgette became famous

One day in June 2007, Georgette (Pic 1), the niece of a local scholl Director in the Opalla District, Democratice Replublic of Congo (DRC), Central Africa, was caring for her pet, a monkey when a field team of a group of scientists walked past her. The team did not notice the little girl. Why? Georgette was like any other adolescent girl in any of the cities, villages and forests of DRC. She was simple and  inconsequential. Her pet however caught the attention of the passers-by, particularly the conservation biologists. Allthough the monkey they sighted looked like many others thay had seen, this one has a striking mane, brightly coloured blue arse and most importantly eyes that look like those of humans (pic 2).

 

Pic 1: Georgette

 

Pic 2: Portrait of adult male Lasula

 

Pic 3: Georgette with juvenile female Lasula

Georgette’s pet monkey has become  a new species of  monkey discovered by scientists led by John Hart, a conservation biologist from the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation in the DRC. Hart and his team had come to a region in central DRC called the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Conservation Landscape, which is the land between the Tshuapa, Lomami and Lualaba rivers, to explore the largely unknown, vast and roadless forest within. Upon visiting this pet monkey, Hart found that the locals identified the animal as ‘Lesula’, and the species, although not known to science at the time, was well known by hunters. Georgette’s uncle acquired the infant about two months earlier, before the arrival of the biologists, from a family member who had killed its mother in the forest near Yawende, south of Opala and west of the Lomami River.  The biologists took photographs of the animal and made arrangements for its care. They then continued to observed and take serial photographs of this animal regularly over the following 18 months. More searching in Opala, DRC resulted in another captive male and female Lesula, and these two were monitored for several months. Then, in December 2007, the team saw their first wild Lesula in the Obenge region along the Lomami River.  The team also collected pictures of Lasulas killed by hunters’. Also, they collected snips of skin or a whole carcass of these monkeys which they sent for detailed analysis. These analyses resulted in the identification of the Lasula as a species which although had been existing in the Lomami forests, but was hitherto unknown to science. This new discovery was given Cercopithecus lomamiensis as its scientific name. The second name of the monkey, that is the specific epithet in technical term –“ lomamiensis” is given because the monkey is endemic to the Lomami forest, which is watered by the Lomami river from which these monkeys and many other wild animals take water.

 

Pic 4: Two juvenile Lasula

The detailed scientific description of the species was puclished in a September 2012 edition of PLoS One , an open access journal.  The paper coauthored by Hart and 8 other researchers is titled ’ Lesula: A New Species of Cercopithecus Monkey Endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Implications for Conservation of Congo’s Central Basin” Since the journal was pucblished the names and photographs of georgette became frequently mentioned in the world media including CNN and the internet. This discovery has also been trending on the social media. Sometimes it takes only a little kindness and care of animals from the wild to become famous. This is what the story of the discovery of Lasula has taught the world.

 

Pic 5: Bright blue arse of Lasula

Follow this link http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044271 for the full scientific pape.