A new species of primate, the White Cheeked Macaque, has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh by a group of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).

According to the findings published in the international journal ‘Animal Gene’ last week, two most recently described macaque species; the White Cheeked Macaque (Macaca leucogenys) and Arunachal Macaque (Macaca munzala) were discovered from a single biodiversity hotspot, the Eastern Himalaya. With this, India's mammal count stands at 438.

“The discovery was entirely accidental. We were not looking for the White Cheeked Macaque; we had received a grant of Rs 10 crore for a project to study Himalayan species — this involved exploring biodiversity of the Himalayas and studying large threatened species in the region,” ZSI scientist Dr Mukesh Thakur, also the lead author of the study carried out under recently retired director of ZSI, Dr Kailash Chandra.

The Macaque was first discovered in China in 2015 and the place where the White-Cheeked Macaque has been discovered is barely 200 km aerial distance from where it was first spotted in China, in Modog in Southeastern Tibet.

According to ZSI scientists, they had conducted surveys in the West Siang, Arunachal Pradesh and collected five faeces and two skin samples of macaques that on DNA analysis identified as white cheeked macaques.

The report said, "Subsequently, we undertook intensive field surveys and successfully captured white cheeked macaques in camera traps as well as found a captive juvenile individual during questionnaires from the same region. We report a relic population of white cheeked macaque from West Siang, an area about 89–197 km away from China.”

“Unfortunately, white cheeked macaque has not been included in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India and therefore, the present study laid foundation to promote field studies in Central Arunachal Pradesh to delineate distribution boundary and population size of white cheeked macaque in Arunachal Pradesh," the report in the journal said.

The White Cheeked Macaque has distinct white cheeks, long and thick hair on the neck and a longer tail than other Macaque species.

Image credit: Indiatimes