iWILD

Last Monk of Monkey Month, but not Least…

Monkey Month may be over, but we won’t forget our fellow primates.  Look for more endangered simians coming up throughout the year. 

(via fuckyeahoceancreatures)

Top This, Snooki

Many monkeys sport outstanding hair, from the Kipunji (see Endangered All-Star 188) to Snooki.  But the Cotton Top is in a class by itself.  Now, if only we could make them as ubiquitous as the Big Hair primates on the Jersey Shore.

Golden Boy

Monkey Month moves to the New World with a look at the glorious Golden Lion Tamarin, today’s Endangered All-Star.  Well-known and much-publicized efforts have focused on the captive breeding and reintroduction of the species, but equally important are efforts to save its wild home, the Atlantic forests of Brazil.  You can Adopt-an-Acre from the Nature Conservancy and help speed their campaign to plant a billion trees in this denuded area.  Go on—you know you want to.

Photo:  © Dave Watts

MOST ENDANGERED PRIMATES IN THE WORLD

The Eastern Black Crested Gibbon, along with its closely related relative, the Hainan Gibbon, is right on the verge.  Fortunately, Fauna & Flora International, which rediscovered the species in 2002, is supporting community patrols to guard the remaining individuals, while bringing biogas facilities and improved stoves to villages to help curtail wood cutting.  Watch a video of this rare species at the link above.

mfs: eec:

“Don’t Kill Our Wild Life”
Artist: John Wagner
Created/Published: 1936-1940

The Bad News:  Fewer than 250 survive.

The Good News:  Local communities in Vietnam are now beginning to value their unique endemic primates and are working with Fauna & Flora International to set aside protected areas for this and other species.

Photo:  See images by Geoff Robinson Photography at greenpacks.org, where there are also some lovely videos of the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey.

nationalgeographicmagazine:

Emerald-patched Cattleheart Butterfly
Image courtesy Richard Prum
The green patches on an emerald-patched Cattleheart butterfly (pictured) are the result of gyroids embedded in the wing scales.
“The green color is very similar to the leaves [in the butterfly’s environment], so we think it helps with camouflage,” study co-author Saranathan said.
Scientists think the gyroids only form during the butterflies’ cocoon phase, and can’t be replaced once the adult insects emerge from their cases.