Kipunji  (Rungwecebus kipunji)

The remarkable discovery of Tanzania’s kipunji in 2003 and 2004 (by two independent research teams) represented Africa’s first new monkey discovery in 20 years (4) (5). This medium sized, long-tailed monkey has a long, upright chest, loud call and unique coat. The fur is a light to rufous brown, with darker lower forelimbs, black hands and feet, and an off-white stomach and tail end. Elongated cheek whiskers and a crest of long, erect hair on the crown frame the black face (1). The species’ characteristically long coat is thought to be an adaptation to withstand the cold in the upper altitudes of its range (4). One of the features that established this monkey as a distinct species is its unique and distinctive call, described as a loud, low-pitched ‘honk-bark’, which is very different to that of other monkeys (1). Although initially named the highland mangabey, having been classified as a mangabey (Lophocebus) from analysis of photographs, recent genetic and morphological tests on a dead animal revealed that the species belongs to a new genus (Rungwecebus), and is in fact more closely related to the baboon than to mangabeys (2). As such, the species is now referred to simply as kipunji.