Miss Waldron's Red Colobus
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Miss Waldron's red colobus (''Piliocolobus waldronae'') is a
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of the
red colobus Red colobuses are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Piliocolobus''. It was formerly considered a subgenus within the genus '' Procolobus'', which is now restricted to the olive colobus. They are closely related to the black-and-white colobus mon ...
native to
West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
. It had previously been described as a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of the western red colobus, ''P. badius''. It has not been officially sighted since 1978 and was considered
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
in 2000. However, new evidence suggests that a very small number of these monkeys may be living in the southeast corner of
Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
. The
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
notes Miss Waldron's red colobus as
critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
. Miss Waldron's red colobus was discovered in December 1933 by
Willoughby P. Lowe Willoughby ( ) may refer to: Places Antigua *Willoughby Bay (Antigua), on the southeast coast of Antigua Australia *Willoughby, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney **Willoughby Girls High School *City of Willoughby, a local government area of Ne ...
, a
British Museum (Natural History) The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and ...
collector who had shot eight specimens of the animal. Robert William Hayman named it after a fellow museum employee, Miss Fanny Waldron, who assisted in the expedition where Lowe collected the eight specimens.


Description

Black fur covers the majority of Miss Waldron's red colobus, but a distinctive pattern of bright red fur can be found on its forehead and thighs, allowing it to be distinguished from
conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...
s. An
Old World monkey Old World monkeys are primates in the family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus '' Papio''), red colobus (genus '' Piliocolob ...
, it grows to a height of about 3 feet (1 m), with a head that is small for its frame. No photograph of a living Miss Waldron's red colobus is known to exist.


Ecology and status

High-canopy forests (rainforests) in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire serve as the exclusive habitat of Miss Waldron's red colobus. The monkey usually formed large family groups of 20 or more. It is a social and highly vocal animal, frequently communicating with others using loud calls, shrieks and chattering. Its strategy for safety depends on using the many eyes and ears of the group. Fruit, seeds and foliage provide the primary food source of Miss Waldron's red colobus. The western red colobus frequently is hunted and eaten by larger
carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...
s, including
common chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the ...
s (specifically
western chimpanzee The western chimpanzee or West African chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes verus'') is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea-B ...
s, ''Pan troglodytes verus'', in the range of ''P. b. waldronae''),
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...
s, pythons,
eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
s and humans.


Decline to (near-)extinction

The monkey was frequently (and illegally) poached for
bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...
, with little interference by local governments.
Habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
also played a role in its decline. Miss Waldron's red colobus is the first
primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
to be suspected extinct in the 21st century, but there is considerable debate over whether this assessment is indeed correct. A series of forest surveys, conducted by the
Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...
from 1993 to 1999, failed to uncover any evidence of the monkey's existence, and the animal was declared extinct a year later. However, the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
and other authorities which compile
Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological sp ...
s felt that the required criterion that "there is no reasonable doubt that its last individual has died" was not yet fulfilled. However, primatologist W. Scott McGraw from
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
has been collecting evidence of the monkey's continued existence during his expeditions to
Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
over the past several years: *In 2000, McGraw was given a black monkey tail which
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
tests proved to be from a red colobus. The hunter who gave McGraw the tail claimed he had shot the monkey the previous year. *In 2001, an Ivorian hunter gave McGraw a piece of reddish monkey skin believed to be from Miss Waldron's red colobus. *That same year, McGraw received from an associate in Africa a photograph of what appeared to be an adult Miss Waldron's red colobus which had been killed. Experts who have examined the photograph attest to its likely authenticity. Presumably, a relict population of the monkey still is found in the Ehy Forest (also Ehi or Tanoé Forest) near the mouth of the
Tano River The Tano or Tanoé River ( French: ''Rivière Tano'') is a river in Ghana. It flows for 400 kilometres from a town called Traa, a suburb of Techiman, the capital town of Bono East Region of the Republic of Ghana to Ehy Lagoon, Tendo Lagoon and fin ...
into Ehy Lagoon, at the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Miss Waldron's Red Colobus is among the 25 "most wanted lost" species that are the focus of Re:wild's "Search for Lost Species" initiative.


References


Further reading

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1938907 Miss Waldron's red colobus Mammals of West Africa Critically endangered fauna of Africa Miss Waldron's red colobus Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN