A snub-nosed monkey crouches in a mountain jungle in northern Myanmar (Burma) this past spring in one of several pictures of the species released this week. The photos are said to be the first ever of live snub-nosed monkeys.
Discovered two years ago, the species—nicknamed “snubby”—was previously known only from dead specimens. So conservation group Flora & Fauna International (FFI) set up camera traps to try to catch the elusive animals on film.
“I did not expect us to get anything,” said FFI wildlife photographer Jeremy Holden.
But the fourth camera Holden and his team checked contained a blurry picture of a monkey—and a camera set higher in the jungle captured the above image.
“Most people are disappointed in the quality” of the photograph, a detail of which is shown above. “But in my mind, the monkey looking like a small gargoyle in the corner of the frame is one of the best pictures I’ve ever got,” Holden said.
“It hints at the fragile nature of this species.”