A few years ago, two research teams set out to answer the same question: how does a low-calorie diet affect rhesus monkeys’ health and survival? Researchers initially arrived at slightly different answers; however, after a recent collaboration and re-evaluation of pooled data from the two studies, they can say with certainty: when it comes to […]
Tag: primates
‘Lucy’ may have been an avid tree climber, bone analysis suggests
New study gives insight into the lifestyles of early humans – with the help of ‘Lucy’, the famous 3.18 million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis fossil discovered in Africa. Bone analysis of Lucy’s upper arm and upper leg bones reveals that the relative strength of the Australopithecus limbs was between that of humans and chimpanzees. These findings also […]
New device puts paralyzed monkeys back on their feet
A new device can get a paralyzed monkey back on its feet and walking, less than a week after a spinal cord injury. The device acts as an interface between the brain and the spine. It helps deliver signals from the motor cortex to electrodes implanted in the lower part of the spinal cord. But […]
Babysitters lend a helping hand for wild chimpanzee moms 
Baby chimps that spend more time with someone other than their mothers can be weaned from breastfeeding faster than those cared for solely by their mom. A team of researchers observed 42 mother-infant pairs to see how much care time by others—defined as “alloparenting”—affects the feeding time for the infant. They observed that infants who […]
Older bonobos might need reading glasses, too
Bonobos may not ever encounter indistinguishable writing on a label or small print in a book, but they could still benefit from a pair of reading glasses. A new study found that a similar kind of age-related long-sightedness that affects humans also influences the quality of life for bonobos. But instead of the mild inconvenience […]
Gorilla moms may be responsible for differences in social organization between species
Social organization of gorillas has been helpful to explain the evolution of human behavior, but these structures vary among gorilla species. A recent study outlines different parenting styles among mothers in various gorilla species. For example, female mountain gorillas remain with their sons significantly longer than western gorillas. The presence of the mother might reduce the […]
Stones broken by wild monkeys add an edge to early-human tool use theories
As seen in the video, wild bearded capuchin monkeys also adopt a stone-on-stone percussion technique to produce stone flakes similar to early-human stone tools. Broken stones with distinct sharp edges are thought to be a precursor to more sophisticated tool use by early humans. However, a recent Oxford study found that sharp-edged stones may not […]
A missing piece in the North American monkey puzzle
Fossilized monkey teeth, found during the expansion of the Panama Canal, suggest that monkeys arrived in Central and North America much earlier than previously thought. Researchers believed that monkeys did not reach Central America until a strip of land between North and South America, called the Isthmus of Panama, formed 3.5 million years ago. But […]
