Niger Delta red colobus

The Niger Delta red colobus (Piliocolobus epieni) is a critically endangered monkey found only in the western part of the Niger Delta, where it is restricted to marsh forest with a high water table all year but no heavy flooding. It became known to science in 1993 and was treated as a subspecies of the western red colobus, and later of Pennant's colobus, until Colin Groves recognized it as a full species in 2007. The animal is black from head to rump, orange-brown on the sides and outer legs, white underneath and along most of the arms, with black hands and feet, a red-brown tail and white whiskers. It shares its forest with several other primates, including the putty-nosed monkey and the mona monkey. Logging of an important food tree and bushmeat hunting have raised pressure on it, and the IUCN reported a population drop of more than 80 percent over thirty years. In 2010 it was named among the world's 25 most endangered primates.