Researchers spotted and took first images of a rare red primate, an African monkey that was known to be extinct.

The Bouvier’s red colobus monkey was photographed by two primatologists last March on a swamp forest along the Bokiba Rver in the Ntokou-Pikounda National Park in Republic of the Congo.

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The rare primate shows signs of fear of humans, the reason why they are vulnerable to most bushmeat hunters.

"Thankfully, many of these colobus monkeys live in the recently gazetted national park and are protected from threats such as logging, agriculture and roads, all of which can lead to increased hunting,” said biologists and experts on Central Africa for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

It was not that easy to find the Bouvier's red colobus monkey and primatologist Devreese and Gobolo asked helped from the locals by describing the local monkey. The researchers did come a long way, starting at the town of Owando, to Makoua, and then traversed the Likouala River.

The photograph suggests there may be other species of swamp-dwelling monkeys that are nocturnal, which no one has seen simply because researchers have not searched so extensively for them, researchers added.

Ntokou-Pikounda National Park is known as the "Green Abyss" from ecologist J. Michael Fay's MegaTransect project. It is the place that is known to give protection to elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees.

Almost nothing is known about Bouvier's red colobus (Piliocolobus bouvieri), a species of monkey endemic to the Republic of Congo. It was considered a subspecies of a larger colobus taxonomic group in the past and is believed to be threatened by the growing demand for bushmeat in the region.

TagsExperts Capture First-ever Photos of Rare Monkey that was believed to be Extinct, Republic of Congo, animal extinction, monkey, rare monkey, Bouvier red colobus, colobus monkeys, primate, Wildlife Conservation Society.