
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

LION-HEADED MONKEY DISCOVERED IN BRAZIL

An unknown species of monkey with a lion's head and a striking gold and black coat has been found in one of Brazil's most populous regions, researchers said Wednesday.

"It's quite remarkable, because it's almost like finding something in the suburbs of Los Angeles," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International in Washington, D.C.

The black-faced lion tamarin, as the new monkey is called, is a golden squirrel-size monkey with black face, forearms and tail.

It is only the fourth species of lion tamarin known. It will be the highlight of a meeting on lion tamarins to be held in Brazil beginning today. The new lion tamarin was found by two biology students who had just graduated and taken their first jobs as professors, Lucia Lorini and Vanessa Guerra Persson.

When Mittermeier learned of the discovery, he immediately committed $30,000 toward such studies and toward protection of this highly endangered new species.

Preliminary surveys suggest that only a few dozen of the black-faced lion tamarins have survived, Mittermeier said.

All of the lion tamarins are endangered, primarily because the coastal Atlantic forest of Brazil, which is their sole habitat, has nearly disappeared under the crush of a burgeoning human population.

by CNB