Miss Waldron's Red Colobus
Declared the first primate extinction in 200 years — before anyone could confirm it was gone
No confirmed photograph exists
Location
Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa
Overview
In 2000, a paper in Conservation Biology declared Miss Waldron's red colobus the first primate to go extinct in over two centuries. The claim was based on camera trap surveys and hunter interviews across the species' entire known range in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire — all of which drew blanks. The last confirmed scientific record is from 1978. What made the declaration unusual is that it was made without a body: no definitive specimen, no carcass, no direct confirmation of death. Several primatologists refused to accept it. They were right to hesitate.
Why haven't we found it?
West Africa has lost over 90% of its forest cover since the mid-20th century, and systematic survey coverage of what remains is patchy. Local hunters in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire have occasionally described seeing the species in remote forest patches near the border. In 2005, photographs taken by a bushmeat hunter showed what appeared to be Miss Waldron's red colobus — not good enough for formal confirmation, but enough to prevent a definitive extinction ruling. Whether those reports describe the actual species or are misidentifications of the more common western red colobus remains unresolved.
Reasons to keep looking
- 1
The 2005 hunter photographs from Côte d'Ivoire were described by researchers as 'consistent with the species' — the colouring and body proportions matched. They were taken in a forest patch near the Ghana border that had not been surveyed by scientists.
- 2
A 2019 camera trap survey covering 1,800 km² of potentially suitable habitat found no confirmed individuals — but the survey covered less than 20% of the potential range, and several primate researchers working in the region have declined to formally declare the species extinct.
- 3
Bouvier's red colobus — a separate species from the Congo Basin — is in a near-identical situation, last confirmed in 1978. That two different red colobus species on opposite sides of Africa have the same last-seen date is a measure of how under-surveyed African forest primate populations were in the late 20th century.
Things worth knowing
- 1
The species is named after a Miss F. Waldron who collected specimens in Ghana in the early 20th century — a name attached to the monkey for over a century despite virtually nothing being known about who she was.
- 2
The 2000 extinction declaration was the first time a primate had been formally declared extinct in the modern era. It generated significant controversy, with several primatologists arguing publicly that the evidence for extinction was insufficient.
- 3
Like all colobuses, it was a leaf specialist — entirely dependent on mature forest for the specific tree species its multi-chambered digestive system was adapted to process. The collapse of old-growth forest in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire removed its dietary foundation before the species was ever properly studied.
- 4
No field study of living individuals was ever completed. Everything known about the species comes from museum skins collected before 1978 and brief notes from the collectors.
- 5
The formal IUCN status is Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) — the same hedged category the pink-headed duck occupies — meaning the organisation considers extinction likely but will not confirm it without better evidence.