(CNN) – Deep in the Angolan jungle, scientists have discovered a new species of primate thanks to its booming voice.
But any elation has been short lived for the team behind the find, as the animal is in immediate peril due to the destruction of its habitat.
The size of a squirrel (around six inches long without the tail), the Angolan dwarf galago is a kind of bushbaby, a small primate family scattered all over sub-Saharan Africa. However, most bushbabies are even smaller, making this one a giant among its tiny family.
Scientists at the Nocturnal Primate Research Group at Oxford Brookes University, UK found the dwarf galago thanks to its distinctive call — a loud, chirping crescendo of longer notes, followed by a fading twitter, used to attract mates and scare rivals away.
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The dwarf galago also has a distinctive appearance with a longer face than other galagos, which the team identified using a photo library. The discovery was announced in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in February 2017.
“This new galago species is a very exciting discovery,” Russell Mittermeier of Conservation International said in a statement. “It is only the fifth new primate from the African mainland to be described since 2000, and only the second species of galago. What is more, it is from Angola, where there has been very little primate research to date.”
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A new primate has been discovered in Angola — and it's already in danger https://t.co/MnQDzQxOeF pic.twitter.com/TyLgPQPkAo
— CNN (@CNN) April 10, 2017
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