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 [...]

Schwartz, Molecules, and Morphology: There Can Be Only One

Connor MacLeod: How do you fight such a savage? Ramirez: With heart, faith and steel. In the end there can be only one. Rudolf Raff, in The Shape of Life, has an interesting discussion on attempts to iron out the relationships between lungfish, trout, and humans. On the surface it is quite simple. Lungfish are [...]

More on Schwartz and Orangutans

I haven’t had a lot of time for reading lately, so I am still in the process of reading the paper. I am just now at the critique of the molecular evidence for a chimp/human clade. Here is a longish quote:

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Say Chimps And Humans Share A Common Ancestor

The Red Ape rears it’s ugly head. Here is a lengthy quote from PhysOrg.Com: Schwartz and Grehan scrutinized the hundreds of physical characteristics often cited as evidence of evolutionary relationships among humans and other great apes-chimps, gorillas, and orangutans-and selected 63 that could be verified as unique within this group (i.e., they do not appear [...]

The Centre for Orangutan Protection Does a Good Deed

They actually do many good deeds, but this one is on video. National Geographic has the story – and the video.

New Population of Orangutangs Discovered

According to National Geographic a new, and large, population of orangutangs has been discovered in the Indonesian sector of Borneo:

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.

Save the Orangutan: A Comment From Michelle Desilets

I don’t often move a comment from the comment section to a post of its own, but I am doing so with the following comment for two reasons. First, it is a heartfelt and articulate plea on behalf of orangutans. So heartfelt and well written, in fact, that it brought shivers to my spine and [...]

Orangutan Populations Declining

Science News Daily has a report on declining Orangutan populations in Sumatra and Borneo:

A. afarensis vs. the Apes

All pictures: Top left A. afarensis Top right: P. troglodytes. Bottom left: P. pygmaeus Bottom right: G. gorilla One of the most aggravating things one can hear, if one has any training in paleoanthropology, is that the australopithicines were nothing but glorified apes. So let’s study the issue (hey, I have to justify the name [...]