New Monekys and Species this year

December 16, 2004 7:43 AM

A new species of monkey turned up in India [NYTimes or Rediff]. Though the monkeys are new to science, people in the area are quite familiar with them. They call them "mun zala" or deep forest monkeys. It's a stocky, short-tailed, brown-haired creature they have named the Macaca munzala, or Arunachal macaque. Maybe not that excting for those of us not excited by, uh, mokeys, but did you know this year there have been other new things discovered? A new species of plec and one of Neon goby, even more exciting, a new electric fish was found as well. A quick search turned up dozens of new fish this year. ABC News says 178 new things found in the oceans this year alone, raising the number of life-forms found in the world's oceans to about 230,000. The big question is, of course, how many of those will Taste Like Chicken? The bad news on the little critter front is 1 in 10 bird species could vanish within 100 years, and I bet they all taste like chicken.
posted by Blake (16 comments total)

Shouldn't this be here?
posted by googly at 7:51 AM on December 16, 2004

Sorry - I can't resist the low-hanging fruit.

This is a neat post. Thanks.
posted by googly at 8:01 AM on December 16, 2004

Fortean Times does a great job in tracking new animal discoveries and all things crytozoological. Often, locals are very familiar with the creatures (a la the Vu Quang Ox in Vietnam or the Bondezegou in Papua) while science takes generations to 'discover' them.
posted by moonbird at 8:15 AM on December 16, 2004

New monekys??

Anyway, seems like the more species that we manage to kill off, the more we find! Dammit!
posted by Chunder at 8:59 AM on December 16, 2004

Maybe it's just me, but unknown-to-science/known-to-locals doesn't give me much confidence in science.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:10 AM on December 16, 2004

Maybe it's just me, but unknown-to-science/known-to-locals doesn't give me much confidence in science.

Why? Are you saying that science should have somehow predicted the existence of this new type of monkey?
posted by milovoo at 9:47 AM on December 16, 2004

I'm saying it's not a "new" type of monkey just because scientists haven't taken notes on it.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:51 AM on December 16, 2004

This just proves to all you evolution types that the Divine Creator is still active and doing his thing. I'm praying for him to make something really cool like a lion with wings or something. That would be awesome.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 9:54 AM on December 16, 2004

This just proves to all you evolution types that the Divine Creator is still active and doing his thing. I'm praying for him to make something really cool like a lion with wings or something. That would be awesome.

This just in...
posted by mudpuppie at 10:24 AM on December 16, 2004

This just proves to all you evolution types that the Divine Creator is still active and doing his thing.

Huh? OK, explain. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone read any of the links. Are you having trouble with the word new, try substituting previously undiscovered and then tell me how this is some sort of divine proof. How about when their fossils are found, will that just be proof that your god put them there to trick everyone, or do you just deny that fossils are real?
posted by milovoo at 10:35 AM on December 16, 2004

Jackalope smackalope...

This here is more impressive.
posted by mic stand at 10:39 AM on December 16, 2004

milovoo: Sorry, dude, I was kind of riffing on the comments that assumed that *new* species didn't mean newly discovered species. (As someone who's (A) not stupid and (B) spent most of his life in science, I'm squarely on the side of those who consider divine creation, well, retarded.)

But I still really, really want to see the Ultimate Dude make the Lion With Wings. Now *that* would make me convert.

No hard feelings?
posted by Turtles all the way down at 11:05 AM on December 16, 2004

Does anyone have a picture of the new monkey?
posted by mowglisambo at 11:58 AM on December 16, 2004

mowglisambo: BBC News has one.
posted by gubo at 2:00 PM on December 16, 2004

But I still really, really want to see the Ultimate Dude make the Lion With Wings. Now *that* would make me convert.
No hard feelings?

Of course. Again the subtle nuances are missed in the world of ASCII. I respect your opinion on all things science and you had me very worried. I got a hair trigger for creationists because it really does seem like with only a small lapse in vigilance they could get their myths written into the textbooks and it will take decades to get them out again. Evolution is so fascinating and wondrous in it's own right and well worthy of study. I have a great fear of that knowledge being lost to future generations because of religious censorship and revision.

Personally, I want cat-sized giraffes, I don't know why, I just do, but unfortunately, I suspect that the ruminant stomach and gut doesn't scale down all that well.
posted by milovoo at 3:13 PM on December 16, 2004

Thanks, gubo. It's even hotter than I thought it'd be!
posted by mowglisambo at 5:44 PM on December 16, 2004