Noelle Swan

Courtesty of Simon Fraser University

When Canadian PhD student, Brent Loken set up a camera trap in the Borneo rainforest, he hoped to capture footage of the reclusive clouded leopard. Instead a rare monkey, once thought to be extinct, stole the show.

Loken and fellow researchers from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia eventually identified the surprise star as Miller’s grizzled langur–no small task considering not previous photos existed for comparison. Shock quickly gave way to excitement as it became clear that their photos had resurrected a species from the annals of extinction. “We were all pretty ecstatic that this monkey still exists,” Loken said in a prerecorded video available on YouTube.

Loken hopes his rediscovery will help to bring global attention to the rainforest of Borneo which houses many exotic and endangered species including the pygmy elephant, the moonrat, and the sun bear. Already in a state of rapid decline, Borneo has lost 65 percent of its rainforest to mining and palm oil plantations. While Loken believes in a “moral imperative to protect as many species as we can,” he adds that the Borneo rainforest plays a major role in climate change and carbon sequestration.