How They Found Two New Species of Tiny, Endangered Primates

Thanks to improved genetic analysis, scientists have discovered a new pocket-sized species: say hello to Jonah’s mouse lemur.

Lemurs are small primates and among the most endangered animals in the world, and finding a new species of the adorable mouse lemurs is not easy when they look so similar to their relatives, so it requires a lot of persistence and detailed research to decipher relevant differences.

“It took years of sample analysis and teamwork to identify these mouse lemurs as a new scientific species,” says researcher Marina Blanco of Jonah’s mouse lemur, which was first captured in Madagascar in 2006 before being identified as a new species this year. “Mouse lemurs are evolutionary and ecologically amazing.”

DNA analyses were also used to discover a new species of another tiny primate this year: the Popa Langur. This species has only been spotted in one small region in Myanmar and is estimated to consist of a population of merely 200 of its kind.