We ain’t monkeyin’ around here.
Formosan macaques. Photo from Wikipedia. Macaques, like humans, seem to prefer conversing in short calls (or using short words) rather than lengthy vocalizations. In humans, we use the words "the", "a" and "of" often and they do not take long to say. The calls used often by macaques (greetings, grunts and coos) are also short.... Continue Reading →
Skull of LB1 (Homo floresiensis) and modern human. A few links and papers on Homo floresiensis brain size and the evolution of primate brain size. It seems that the evolution of brain size in primates is not one directional (always leading to larger brain) but instead body size and brain size is subjected to separate... Continue Reading →
A movie made by chimpanzees?! Yes, you read it right ... a movie shot entirely by chimpanzees will be aired on BBC Two on January 27th, 2010. PhD student Betsy Herrelko at the University of Stirling, UK thought of this idea and introduced "video technology" to a group of 11 chimpanzee individuals that live in... Continue Reading →
A new theory on the origin of primates was published on Zoologica Scripta. The paper, Evolution and biogeography of primates: a new model based on molecular phylogenetics, vicariance and plate tectonics by Michael Head, argues that the distribution of major primate groups are correlated with the Mesozoic tectonic features. The range of these primate groups... Continue Reading →
Finally a paper about grooming patterns! On "early view" in American Journal of Primatology, is Rebecca J. Lewis's Grooming Patterns in Verreaux's Sifaka (free abstract). If you would like to read the article, let me know and I can send you the whole article in pdf. I can definitely relate to the first sentence of... Continue Reading →
Campbell's Monkey. Image: Patricio Robles Gil/Minden Pictures/FLPA from Newscientist. A new paper from Biology Letters by Lemasson et al. (2009) observed that Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli) pay more attention to the vocalization of older individuals. The authors posit that attention to vocalization of older individuals not only exist in humans but also in non-human primates.... Continue Reading →
So supposedly a newly publicized paper back in November 2009 confirms that the oldest primate anthropoid fossil comes from the southern province of Krabi, Thailand (according to some Thai news articles, which unfortunately I cannot find where they cited their primary sources). It was discovered 14 years ago by Thailand's Mineral Resources Department archaeologists. Siamopithecus... Continue Reading →
