Discovery and Rediscovery
The species was first described by Alexander von Humboldt in 1812 under the name Simia flavicauda, based on a skin found 10 years earlier, used by a local man as a horse saddle. Humboldt had never seen a live animal of this species nor a preserved specimen, and believed it belonged to the genus Alouatta. For over 100 years, the species was reported on only a few isolated occasions, so was thought to be extinct.
In 1974, a group of scientists, led by Russell Mittermeier, and funded by WWF, found a young yellow-tailed woolly monkey which was kept as a pet in the city of Pedro Ruiz Gallo, Amazonas. The rediscovery attracted the attention of national and international press, as well as conservation organizations that saw the need to know quickly the status of this species.
Read more about this topic: Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“Next to the striking of fire and the discovery of the wheel, the greatest triumph of what we call civilization was the domestication of the human male.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)