Bioko Island By Alice JonesAlice Jones Photograph by Tim Laman National Geographic August 2008 (Pennant’s red colobus)National Geographic August 2008 Morell, Virginia. "Island Ark: A Threatened African Treasure," National Geographic (August 2008), "Island Ark: A Threatened African Treasure,"

Biologists regard Bioko Island as a living laboratory for studying how plants and animals evolve in isolation. It lies in the Gulf of Guinea, 20 miles off the west coast of Africa. Bioko, however, was connected to the African mainland during each ice age, most recently about 12,000 years ago.

Bioko Island (more about Bioko Island ») is a little known island off the west coast of Africa. It's part of Equatorial Guinea and the site of Malabo, the country's capital, but it's also a center of unparalleled biodiversity—home to seven species of monkeys, four species of galagos, and two species of duikers, among other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects as well as tropical flora.Bioko Island » Bioko's biggest claim to fame is its primates, including six unique subspecies: the Bioko drill, Bioko Preuss's monkey, Bioko putty-nosed monkey, Bioko red-eared monkey, Bioko black colobus, and Pennant's red colobus. All of the monkeys are endangered, and two of them, the black colobus and the red colobus, rank among the most endangered of all primates.

Biologists regard Bioko Island as a living laboratory for studying how plants and animals evolve in isolation. It lies in the Gulf of Guinea, 20 miles off the west coast of Africa, one of four islands in an archipelago. The three others—São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón—are deepwater isles formed tens of millions of years ago and colonized by plants and animals from Africa that arrived on their shores by chance. Bioko, however, was connected to the African mainland during each ice age, most recently about 12,000 years ago. Like an exclusive ark, the island shelters an isolated set of subspecies evolved separately from those on the mainland. There are seven species of monkeys, including the drills; four galagos (bush babies); two small antelopes (duikers); one species of porcupine; one species of tree hyrax; one species of pouched rat; and three species of scaly-tailed squirrels. There are catlike linsangs (but no lions or leopards). The roster once included forest buffalo, but they were hunted to extinction a century ago. Add orchids, land snails, freshwater fish, amphibians, spiders, and insects—all evolving apart from their mainland relatives. In the island's interior, woodlands, grasslands, and rain forest remain much as they were when the first Portuguese explorers stepped ashore in the 15th century: largely untouched and beautiful. Bibliography

Bioko monkeys Discuss the likely evolution of these monkeys with special reference to the Cercopithecus spp Think about : Why the 3? (subspp??? Or spp???) How related to each other and the mainland spp What pattern Type of evolution (allo or sym) c.f. mainland (allo or sym) How get there and what event How can we explain the 3 spp … distribution / altitude / canopy position Red ear … Putty …. Crowned … Other spp on the island