Monkeys Galore

By Andrea Dorfman and Michael D. Lemonick

It's easy to understand how biologists can keep finding new species of beetles or earthworms. What's more surprising is that they're still finding new kinds of monkeys, some of man's closest living relatives. It happened again last week with the announcement that two species of monkeys have been discovered in the Brazilian Amazon.

If you're going to look for new monkeys, Brazil is the place to do it. Brazilian forests are home to 95 known species of primates, about 27% of the world's total; of the 24 monkeys described since 1990, 13 hail from Brazil.

The newest additions are titi monkeys, a group of cat-size creatures that form humanlike families consisting of a pair of adults--which mate for life--and their offspring. One, Callicebus bernhardi, is named for Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, a noted naturalist. The other is dubbed C. stephennashi, after Stephen Nash, a scientific illustrator.

Given the Amazon's size, it is unlikely that these monkeys will be the last of its secrets. Says co-discoverer Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International: "We've got some monkeys in cages that we know are new species. We just haven't described them yet."

--By Andrea Dorfman and Michael D. Lemonick