Manila or bust

The Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has yielded a new species of monkey.

A follow-up search since 2018 of a small monkey with orange lips first sighted in the park in 2008 confirmed the existence of the Iikweli or Colobus congoensis in 2022.

The animal, the fifth new species of African monkey to be described in the last 75 years, is most closely related to the black colobus monkey and also has slate gray cheek bones framing black-rimmed eyes, silky black fur, and a white patch around the anus, Discover Wildlife reports.

With a small population, researchers recommend that Iikweli monkeys be classified as an endangered species.

Meanwhile, a merchant vessel’s crew found a drifting sailboat while en route to Hawaii on 21 July, the Seafarers International Union said in a statement, according to People.

Aboard the sailboat spotted 900 miles off Hawaii by the crew of the MV George III was a lone sailor named Kaichi Sato of California, USA.

Sato, 39, had been drifting in the Pacific Ocean since sailing from the Catalina Islands in California on 7 June after the mast of his vessel was snapped by strong winds and rough seas two weeks into his journey, People reports. He was trying to sail solo across the Pacific.

He told rescuers that he ran out of water on 7 July and resorted to condensing seawater using a bucket sealed with plastic bags.

“I was just licking that to survive,” Sato said, according to People, adding that he mostly ate oatmeal as well as squid and fish that landed in his boat.

Despite his more than one-month ordeal that almost killed him, Sato said that he plans to sail solo again across the Pacific using a bigger boat, with the Philippines as his destination.