Miss Waldron's Red Colobus
Encyclopedia
Miss Waldron's red colobus (Piliocolobus badius waldronae) is a subspecies
of the western red colobus
native to West Africa
. It has not been officially sighted since 1978 and was considered extinct
in 2000. However, new evidence suggests that a very small number of these monkeys may be living in the southeast corner of Ivory Coast. The IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species
lists Miss Waldron's red colobus as Critically Endangered
.
Miss Waldron's red colobus was discovered in December 1933 by Willoughby P. Lowe, a British Museum
collector who had shot eight specimens of the animal. Lowe named it after a fellow museum employee, Miss F. Waldron, a colleague on the expedition.
, 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.
s) in Ghana
and the Ivory Coast
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
s, including common chimpanzee
s (specifically western chimpanzee
s, Pan troglodytes verus, in the range of P. b. waldronae), leopard
s, pythons, eagle
s and humans.
, with little interference by local governments. Habitat destruction
also played a role in its decline. Miss Waldron's red colobus is the first primate
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
from 1993–1999, failed to uncover any evidence of the monkey's existence, and the animal was declared extinct a year later. However, the IUCN and other authorities which compile Red List
s felt that the required criterion that "there is no reasonable doubt that its last individual has died" was not yet fulfiulled.
However, primatologist W. Scott McGraw from Ohio State University
has been collecting evidence of the monkey's continued existence during his expeditions to Ivory Coast over the past several years:
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
into Ehy Lagoon, at the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the western red colobus
Western Red Colobus
The western red colobus is a species of Old World monkey found in West African forests from Senegal to Ghana. All other species of red colobuses have formerly been considered subspecies of P. badius. It is often hunted by the common chimpanzee...
native to West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. It has not been officially sighted since 1978 and was considered extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
in 2000. However, new evidence suggests that a very small number of these monkeys may be living in the southeast corner of Ivory Coast. The IUCN
World Conservation Union
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
Red List of Threatened Species
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
lists Miss Waldron's red colobus as Critically Endangered
Critically Endangered
Critically Endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species. Critically Endangered means that a species' numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations....
.
Miss Waldron's red colobus was discovered in December 1933 by Willoughby P. Lowe, a British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
collector who had shot eight specimens of the animal. Lowe named it after a fellow museum employee, Miss F. Waldron, a colleague on the expedition.
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 conspecifics. An Old World monkeyOld World monkey
The Old World monkeys or Cercopithecidae are a group of primates, falling in the superfamily Cercopithecoidea in the clade Catarrhini. The Old World monkeys are native to Africa and Asia today, inhabiting a range of environments from tropical rain forest to savanna, shrubland and mountainous...
, 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 (rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
s) in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
and the Ivory Coast
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
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
Western Red Colobus
The western red colobus is a species of Old World monkey found in West African forests from Senegal to Ghana. All other species of red colobuses have formerly been considered subspecies of P. badius. It is often hunted by the common chimpanzee...
frequently is hunted and eaten by larger carnivore
Carnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
s, including common chimpanzee
Common Chimpanzee
The common chimpanzee , also known as the robust chimpanzee, is a great ape. Colloquially, the common chimpanzee is often called the chimpanzee , though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the common chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo, formerly called the pygmy...
s (specifically western chimpanzee
Western Chimpanzee
The western chimpanzee, or West African chimpanzee, is a subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, mainly in Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea but with populations in surrounding countries.-Etymology:...
s, Pan troglodytes verus, in the range of P. b. waldronae), leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s, pythons, eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
s and humans.
Decline to (near-)extinction
The monkey was frequently (and illegally) poached for bushmeatBushmeat
Bushmeat initially referred to the hunting of wild animals in West and Central Africa and is a calque from the French viande de brousse. Today the term is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas,...
, with little interference by local governments. Habitat destruction
Habitat destruction
Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...
also played a role in its decline. Miss Waldron's red colobus is the first primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
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
Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society based at the Bronx Zoo was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society and currently manages some of wild places around the world, with over 500 field conservation projects in 60 countries, and 200 scientists on staff...
from 1993–1999, failed to uncover any evidence of the monkey's existence, and the animal was declared extinct a year later. However, the IUCN and other authorities which compile Red List
Regional Red List
A Regional Red List is a report of the threatened status of species within a certain country or region. It is based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, an inventory of the conservation status of species on a global scale...
s felt that the required criterion that "there is no reasonable doubt that its last individual has died" was not yet fulfiulled.
However, primatologist W. Scott McGraw from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
has been collecting evidence of the monkey's continued existence during his expeditions to Ivory Coast over the past several years:
- In 2000, McGraw was given a black monkey tail which DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
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
Tano River
The Tano or Tanoé River is a river in Ghana. It flows for 400 kilometres from Techiman to Ehy, Tendo and finally Aby Lagoon where it enters the Atlantic Ocean...
into Ehy Lagoon, at the border between Ivory Coast and Ghana.