At the top of the monkey tree

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 17

At the top of the monkey tree

! Science is only just geti ting to know the guenons. • One type, the sun-struck guenon, from Gabon, was discovered as recently as 1984. It took its rightful place as the twenty- ■ seventh known species of ; monkey of the Central African forest. ; This evening’s “Our •» World” (the final of the current series) focuses on the multi-coloured, manyfaced group of monkeys known as guenons. Filmed in the Kibale Forest of Uganda, which boasts nine species of 1

monkeys, “Masked Monkeys” rates the guenons at top of the primate tree for their variety, their numbers and their ecological adaptability. The monkeys have faces and rumps which are distinctively marked with varied bright hues to complement such other notable features as punk hairstyles and bandit masks of fur around the eyes. This jungle masquerade is made even more riotous by the animals’ agile acrobatics and by the hoots, trills and

screams that resound through the treetops. The expert naturalist and painter, Jonathan Kingdom, shows why he believes that the guenon’s rightful place in the limelight of evolution has been usurped by an “earthbound plodder who thinks that the starring role is exclusively his.” “Our World — Masked Monkeys” screens on Two at 7.30 p.m. “Our World” is replaced next week by a 12-part series, “The Heart of the Dragon.”