Tana River Red Colobus

Taxobox
name = Tana River Red ColobusMSW3 Groves | pages = 170]
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Butynski, T. & Members of the Primate Specialist Group | year = 2000 | id = 39993 | title = Procolobus rufomitratus | downloaded = 2007-07-29]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Cercopithecidae
genus = "Piliocolobus"
species = "P. rufomitratus"
binomial = "Piliocolobus rufomitratus"
binomial_authority = (Peters, 1879)

The Tana River Red Colobus ("Piliocolobus rufomitratus"), also called the Eastern Red Colobus, is a highly endangered species of primate in the Cercopithecidae family. It is endemic to a narrow zone of gallery forest near the Tana River in southeastern Kenya. As all red colobuses, it was formerly considered a subspecies of a widespread "P. badius". [Kingdon, J. 1997. "The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals." Academic Press Limited, London. ISBN 0-12-408355-2]

The Tana River Red Colobus has been considered one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world. [Butynski, T. M. 2005. [http://www.primate-sg.org/rufomitratus.htm Tana River Red Colobus, Procolobus rufomitratus (Peters, 1879).] In: Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates 2004-2006, R. A. Mittermeier, C. Valladares-Pádua, A. B. Rylands, A. A. Eudey, T. M. Butynski, J. U. Ganzhorn, R. Kormos, J. M. Aguiar and S. Walker (eds.), p.17. Report to IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG), International Primatological Society (IPS) and Conservation International (CI), Washington, DC.] It was, together with the equally endangered Tana River Mangabey, the main reason for the creation of the Tana River Primate Reserve in 1978, [ [http://www.kws.org/tana-river.html Tana River National Primate Reserve.] Kenya WildLife Service. Accessed 2008-07-20] but human encroachment within this reserve continues. [ [http://www.africanconservation.org/content/view/685/405/ Kenya’s rare monkey species threatened with extinction .] African Conservation Foundation. Accessed 2008-07-20] Recently, it has been suggested that 20,000 hectares of the Tana River Delta should be transformed into sugarcane plantations, but this has, temporarily at least, been stopped by the High Court of Kenya. [ [http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/07/tana_reprieve.html Tana gets temporary reprieve.] BirdLife International. Accessed 2008-07-20] The 2008 IUCN Red List relisted the species as of least concern.

References