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 [...]

Gigantopithecus!

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

Know Your Primate: Anoiapithecus brevirostris

Order: Primates Suborder: Haplorrhini Family: Hominidae Subfamily: incertae sedis Tribe: Dryopithecini Genus: Anoiapithecus Species: Anoiapithecus brevirostris I have chosen Anoiapithecus brevirostris for this week’s “know Your Primate” because a paper on it has recently been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The paper, by Alba, Fortuny, and Moya-Sola, looks at enamel thickness [...]

Know Your Primate: Pongo abelii

Order: Primates Suborder: Haplorrhini Family: Hominidae Genus: Pongo Species: Pongo abelii Common Name: Sumatran Orangutan The sumatran orang lives, obviously, in Sumatra – they are an endemic species. According several genetic analysis the Sumatran and Bornean populations diverged from each other about 1.5-1.7 MYA. They are largely frugivorous and spend most of their time in [...]

Von Economo Neurons and Hominoids

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would have more to say about primates, brain evolution, and life history. I still plan on exploring that in future posts, but wanted to mention this interesting item that deserves a post of its own.

Know Your Primate: Pan paniscus

Know Your Primate grew out of posts I wrote specifically for the Friday Ark back on my old blog. The point was to write short, informative posts about whatever species struck my fancy (and at that point was not limited to primates). Once I moved to ScienceBlogs those kind of posts went by the wayside. [...]

Know Your Primate: Nakalipithecus nakayamai

Order: Primates Suborder Anthropoidea Infraorder Catarrhini Superfamily Hominoidea Genus: Nakalipithecus Species: Nakalipithecus nakayamai It’s been awhile since I have used a fossil primate in this series, so “ripped straight from the headlines” (as they say in the Law and Order commercials) here is Nakalipithecus nakayamai:

Know Your Primate: Monday Edition

Order: Primates Suborder: Haplorrhini Family: Hylobatidae Genus: Hylobates Species: Hylobates klossii Common Name: Kloss’s Gibbon, Mentawai Gibbon. Depending on who you talk to there four genera (Nomascus, Symphalangus, Bunopithecus, and Hylobates) within the family Hylobatidae. There are a number of differences between the genera (anatomical, pelage, and chromosomal). Today’s primate is an interesting member of [...]

Australopithecus afarensis and Apes: One from the Archives

I’m currently trying to get through a rather lengthy book – which I will be reviewing in a later post – so in the meantime here is one from the archives… I wrote it back in April of 2005 and think I would write it somewhat differently today. I’ve toyed with doing a similar post [...]

Friday Know Your Primate: Peirolapithecus catalaunicus

Today we have another fossil one of the more interesting fossils to have been discovered in the last few years if you ask me. Suborder: Anthropoidea Superfamily: Hominoidea Family: Hominidae Genus: Pierolapithecus Species: Pierolapithecus catalaunicus

Friday Know Your Primate: Late Edition

Order: Primates Family: Hylobatidae Genus: Hylobates Species: Hylobates syndactylus Common Name: Siamang Siamangs are part of a group called the lesser apes. They are native to Malaysia and Sumatra and are sympatric with the white-handed gibbon (H. lar).