GoldenPalace.com Monkey

Taxobox | name = GoldenPalace.com Monkey
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Pitheciidae
genus = "Callicebus"
species = "C. aureipalatii"
binomial = "Callicebus aureipalatii"
binomial_authority = Wallace, 2005 The GoldenPalace.com Monkey ("Callicebus aureipalatii", "aureipalatii" meaning "of the Golden Palace") is a titi, a kind of New World monkey, discovered in western Bolivia's Madidi National Park in 2004.

Description

The GoldenPalace.com Monkey has orangish brown fur, a characteristic golden crown, a white tip on its tail, and dark red hands and feet. Like other titis, they are monogamous, mating for life. They maintain their territories against other pairs of titis primarily through territorial calling. The male titis usually carry their infants until they can survive on their own.

Discovery

The species was discovered on a research expedition instigated by Dr. Robert Wallace of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The field expedition team, consisting of Annika M. Felton, Adam Felton, and Ernesto Cáceres, were the first researchers to film and record this species, previously unknown to science. Rather than choosing a name themselves, Wallace, his team, and WCS auctioned off the naming rights to raise funds for FUNDESNAP ("Fundación para el Desarrollo del Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas"), the nonprofit organization that maintains Madidi National Park. GoldenPalace.com, one of over a dozen bidders, paid US$650,000 to have the species named after them.

External links

* [http://www.goldenpalacemonkey.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7493711/ MSNBC article]
* [http://www.wcs.org/international/latinamerica/centralandes/nwbolivia/madidimonkey/madidi_fundesnap FUNDESNAP]