The Great Ape Heart Project

I meant to write about this a couple of months ago, after reading a story similar to this The original article I read, and forgot to bookmark, focused mainly on the process of how to train a gorilla to sit still for this kind of procedure (this article touches on that a little). I’m getting [...]

Gorilla Genome Sequenced!

The gorilla genome has been sequenced and yields some interesting insights on human evolution. The research is reported in Nature. The article is open access. Here is the abstract: Gorillas are humans’ closest living relatives after chimpanzees, and are of comparable importance for the study of human origins and evolution. Here we present the assembly [...]

Know Your Primate: Presbytis hosei canicrus

Order: Primates Suborder: Haplorrhini Family: Cercopithecidae Subfamily: Colobinae Genus: Presbytis Species: Presbytis hosei canicrus Common Name: Miller’s grizzled langur Presbytis hosei canicrus is a subspecies of grey leaf monkey. It was feared to be extinct but has recently been observed in Borneo. Picture Source

Gigantopithecus!

The open access journal Chinese Science Bulletin has an article on the carbon isotope values of Gigantopithecus blacki teeth.

Project Nim

Back in 2008 I wrote a book review of Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human There are a number of stories in the Guardian concerning a documentary, based on the book, on the subject. First, Peter Singer reviews the film. Second, Carole Jahme interviews special effects artist Pauline Fowler. Finally, there is a [...]

New Baby Black and White Colobus at the St. Louis Zoo!

From here More pictures here

Know Your Primate: Parapapio broomi

Order: Primates Family: Cercopithecidae Subfamily: Cercopithecinae Tribe: Papionini Genus: Parapapio Species: Parapapio broomi The genus Parapaio is composed of four species: Parapapio jonesi, Parapapio whitei, Parapapio broomi, and Parapapio antiquus. The picture of Parapapio broomi below is that of a specimen from Bolt’s Farm and dates to about 2 MYA (the picture is somewhat distorted [...]

Changes in Primatology

I was looking through the archives for the publications of the American Museum of Natural History (they are open access and available here) when I came across a set of plates for the AMNH expedition to the Congo that ran from 1909-1915. The plates displayed primates sampled by the expedition – one of which is [...]

Know Your Primate: Archaeolemur majori

Order: Primates Suborder: Strepsirrhini Infraorder: Lemuriformes Family: Archaeolemuridae Genus: Archaeolemur Species: Archaeolemur majori Archaeolemurs are extinct lemurs from the island of Madagascar. They were quadrupedal frugivores that exploited both terrestrial and aboreal environments. (Picture source: Tattersall 1973 Cranial Anatomy Of The Archaeolemurinae (Lemouroidea, Primates), Anthropological Papers of the AMNH, Vol 52, Part I)

Do Chimpanzees Mourn For Their Dead?

Note: The next addition of the Four Stone hearth will at This is Serious Monkey Business on February 2nd. Pleas get your submissions in! That seems to be the way the press is portraying the video below. The video was released in conjunction with an article published in the American Journal of Primatology (the article [...]

Orangutan Genetics: Begging for an Article

There are a couple of interesting articles on Orangutan genteics out. The first, published in Nature (and is open acess), announces the sequencing of the Orangutan genome. Results are kind of interesting. From Science Daily (I haven’t had a chance to read the Nature article yet): However, in a surprising discovery, the researchers found that [...]

Sweet! Baboons And A New Variety of Orange!

This is really cool! South African farmer Alwyn van der Merwe said workers noticed several years ago that one of his tangerine trees was already stripped of fruit when the other trees were ready for picking. The same thing happened the next year, and the next. A farmworker finally solved the mystery when he saw [...]

Sex Differences in Chimpanzee Use of Play Objects

I will be hosting the Four Stone Hearth on 1/05/11. Please send my your submissions! In the meantime, I am looking for hosts for dates in February and March. If you are interested in hosting drop me a line (my email address is on the “About” tab). Current Biology has and interesting paper called Sex [...]

A Friendly Monkey Day Reminder

Monkey Day is in three days! Have you contributed?

Monkey Day and the Four Stone Hearth

Monkey Day on Facebook Monkey Day is on 12/14 and since I love primates I have decided, in conjunction with This is Serious Monkey Business, to have a special edition of the Four Stone Hearth to help celebrate. More information on what we are looking for, as well as additional contact information, can be found [...]