We ain’t monkeyin’ around here.
By: Kristin Abt Recently published online in the International Journal of Primatology, an article by Humle, Colin, Laurans, and Raballand (2010) discusses the release of a group of 12 chimpanzeees into the High Niger National Park in Guinea, West Africa. Through the efforts of the Chimpanzee Conservation Center, 9 chimpanzees remain in natural habitat at... Continue Reading →
Jill Pruetz, an ISU associate professor of anthropology, has been studying savanna chimpanzees at her Fongoli research site in Senegal since 2001. Her new study documents how the chimps understand the fire they encounter in the region. Photo by Bob Elbert, ISU News Service. A new study by Iowa State University anthropologist Jill Pruetz suggests... Continue Reading →
A picture is worth a thousand words. So, I'm gonna just let the photo do most of the talking. Ever since this photo was published it has gone viral everywhere. Read about this news story at National Geographic and an in depth explanation of the photo here. Originally posted on The Prancing... Continue Reading →
A new study published by Shinya Yamamoto, Tatyana Humle and Masayuki Tanaka on PLoS ONE found that chimpanzees willing to help one another. All they have to do is ask. Using two tool-use scenarios (a stick tool-use and a straw tool-use), both chimpanzees were placed in adjacent booths with non-corresponding tools. The chimpanzee in a... Continue Reading →
Alright fine. Maybe these black and gold howler monkeys are not Whitney Houston and they don't think veganism is whack but new observation had shown that these howler monkeys actually raid chicken coop (or bird nests) for eggs. Yes, for food not to paint Easter eggs. Male (left) and female (right) black and gold howler... Continue Reading →
Animation of chimpanzee yawning from Emory University. Illustration from BBC News. I'm sure we are all familiar with this scenario: Someone yawns and we would "catch" it or vice versa. This is the phenomenon of contagious yawning. A new paper from The Proceedings of The Royal Society "Computer animations stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees" suggests... Continue Reading →
A Fongoli chimp. Photo by Frans Lanting, National Geographic. I just stumbled upon this on Twitter (Thanks to DarwinMonkey). It's a National Geographic page about the Senegalese Fongoli chimps, named after the Fongoli stream that runs through the chimpanzee's range. There are videos showing these chimps using tools fishing for termites, hunting a bushbaby and... Continue Reading →
A research from Duke University by Daniel Schmitt, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology, and Tracy Kivell, a post-doctoral research associate, shows that human evolved from tree climbing ancestors, not from knuckle-walkers. Schmitt and Kivell examined and compared the wrist bones of humans and African apes. Their research, "Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows... Continue Reading →
Plasmodium falciparum is the protozoan parasite that causes malaria in humans and ultimately the death of 2-3 million people a year. If you didn't know, malaria is one of the most common infectious diseases and an enormous public health problem. Only one other malaria causing protozoan, a sister species of the P. falciparum parasite, P.... Continue Reading →
It has been far too long since I've updated this blog. I apologize, there certainly has not been a lack of material to share -- just a lack of time and overemphasis on Anthropology.net, which is totally my bad, I don't intend to neglect this site again. Anyways, photographer Frans Lanting recently travelled to take... Continue Reading →
