Monkeying around in Brazil

A Dutch scientist searching the Brazilian jungle for the habitat of a previously unclassified species of monkeys has announced the discovery of several other unknown species of animals.

The scientist, Marc van Roosmalen, started his search in 1996, after he had been shown a tiny monkey in Manaus on the Amazon.

Mr van Roosmalen eventually discovered a whole group of the monkeys -- at only fifteen centimetres, the world's second smallest.

He said that during the search along the Madeira river in the West of the Amazon basinhe sighted four more new species of monkeys, a new tapir and a new jaguar, but he added that logging and farming posed a serious threat to the local wildlife.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service