In this modern world, we expect little new to be discovered, at least that which is visible and living on terra firma.
When something new is found, it sparks celebration that we humans still do not know about everything on the planet, a planet we dominate for better or worse.
New mammal species (apart from bats, the discoveries of which have been fairly numerous) are the El Dorado of exploration and discovery, but when — as has been revealed this week — a new animal is found, immediately red flags go up, and these must be shared by the hotel and tourism industries.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new monkey, Colobus congoensis, has been described to science, the first step in it being deigned a new species. It has yet to have received an English-language name.
According to a peer-reviewed research paper, locals said they call the species Likweli.
They added they often heard the monkey, but few had ever seen it.
Hotel and other real-estate building projects require — as they rightly should — all manner of environmental signoffs before they can commence.
In the U.K., often are the occasions in which builders have flouted rules.
For example, nests of bird species often are “cleared” to get around building regulations, but the eyes of the populace are many, and very often such rogue contractors fall afoul of the Wildlife & Countryside Act.
When new species, or new breeding populations, of animals are found, instantaneously with celebrations come headaches — how to officially protect what may be new species but which often also are incredibly rare ones, sometimes teetering on the brink of extinction; how to get local communities involved, not to clear them off the land but to have them have a say in conservation and to, in the best scenarios, profit from it; how to sensibly cater to interest groups who want to see these species and often plan vacations around such wildlife encounters; and other conundrums.
One golden reason for travel and hotel stays is to experience the new, the wild and the wondrous.
These species can be a selling point for hotels, hoteliers and staff of which are often champions of conservation.
Discovered in the Lomami National Park in the center-east of this huge country, the monkey’s “mitochondrial and morphological data confirm the attribution of C. congoensis to the genus Colobus and reveal that it is the sister to Colobus satanas, from which it is geographically separated by more than (750 miles),” so said the published paper.
Fewer than 10 monkey species have been discovered since 1950.
Legal firm Bradley-Mason has a webpage listing key U.K. regulations, specific acts, penalties for digressions and species information.
Most hoteliers no doubt know much about this and tick the right boxes during development, but it does no harm to refamiliarize oneself with them.
Hoteliers will not have that problem in the Lomami National Park as there are no hotels for hundreds and hundreds of miles in every direction, but the considerations remain true and are critically important to heed.
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