*The latest research shows that a mysterious "hybrid monkey" has been found in Borneo. This unidentified monkey is a rare hybrid result of two different species competing for forest space *. The researchers concluded that the "hybrid monkey" is likely to be the offspring of the long nosed monkey (nasalis larvatus) and the silver leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus cristatus), which share the same habitat.
Due to the regional limitation of novel coronavirus, the researchers were unable to investigate the monkey's living area on the spot, so they began to analyze the monkey photos that appeared on social media in 2017. In 2017, the monkey was photographed at an early age by photographers. The latest photos in 2020 showed that it was an adult female monkey, which may be feeding its own young.
Nadine Rupert, a primatologist at the University of Malaysia and co-author of the study, said it was amazing that he was feeding a baby! Although different species can crossbreed, their offspring will not bear. Species with similar blood relationship occasionally crossbreed in the wild to produce offspring. For example, northern and southern pigtail monkeys in Thailand are closely related species and belong to the same evolutionary population. They crossbreed in some areas of Thailand, while long nosed monkeys and silver leaf monkeys are completely different.
This hybrid monkey was found near the kinabatan River in Borneo, Malaysia. Here, the distribution of long nosed monkeys and silver leaf monkeys overlap, but their body sizes are obviously different. The adult proboscis monkey has a pink face and a long and slender nose, while the adult silver leaf monkey has a black face and a short and flat nose. At the same time, the proboscis monkey is larger. The male proboscis monkey is 76cm long and weighs 20-24kg, while the silver leaf monkey is 56cm long and weighs 6.6kg.
Rupert said: "According to the photographer's observation, we speculate that male long nosed monkeys mate with female silver leaf monkeys. In some mixed groups, female long nosed monkeys even take care of silver leaf monkey cubs. It is likely that the 'hybrid monkey' in the photo is the offspring of male long nosed monkeys and female silver leaf monkeys, because it has the characteristics of these two species. For example, its nose sounds like female long nosed monkeys, but it is not so long, and its face is gray."
Usually, most of the hybrid offspring from different species are unable to bear offspring. However, the hybrid monkey in the photo is female and is feeding its young. At first, experts speculated that the young monkey is bred by different mothers or is caring for the young monkey of other females. However, the photo clearly shows that the female monkey's breast is swollen and obviously in lactation, indicating that the baby monkey should have borne it.