Chimpanzee News - Evolution and Genetics
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Biology and Behaviour | Conservation and Threats | Captive Chimpanzees | Other Great Apes
Most recent European great ape discovered
13-01-2012 - ScienceDaily
Based on a hominid molar, scientists from Germany, Bulgaria and France have documented that great apes survived in Europe in savannah-like landscapes until seven million years ago. A seven million year old pre-molar of a hominid discovered near the Bulgarian town of Chirpan documents that great apes survived longer in Europe than previously believed. An international team of scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen was involved in the project. The new discovery may cause a revision in our understanding of some major steps in hominid evolution. |
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Our male ancestors stayed close to home, while females wandered about
18-11-2011 - LiveScience
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
At the outset, the researchers wanted to learn something about how ancient hominids used their landscape — that is, whether they covered far distances, or stayed closer to home. The goal was to discover whether their travel habits contributed to their becoming bipedal, since moving on two legs is far more efficient and takes less energy than using all fours.
But, as is often the case with science, they found something unexpected, a novel insight into the social behavior of our earliest human ancestors. It turns out that the males of two bipedal hominid species that roamed the South African savannah more than a million years ago were the stay-at-home types, compared to the wandering females, who went off on their own, leaving the men behind.
Evolutionary biology: The path to sociality
10-11-2011 - Nature
Recent discoveries related to human origins — from new fossils to ancient DNA — have stirred intense interest from scientific journals and the popular media. But perhaps more intriguing are the intimate lives of our distant ancestors. Although the steamy details may be shrouded in the mists of time, some hints about the sequence of events that led to the evolution of human social systems are emerging. The latest evidence comes from Shultz et al.1, who on page 219 of this issue trace the evolution of complex sociality within the order Primates. Their data provide a strong foundation for modelling the origins of hominid mating systems by constraining the range of likely trajectories of social change.
Genetic mutation may have led to rise of humans
10-10-11 - MSN.com
A genetic mutation possibly linked to malarial resistance may have helped drive the evolution of the genus Homo, humans' ancient ancestor, a new study finds. The mutation tweaked one type of sugar molecule, Neu5Gc, produced by early hominids, the first great apes. About 2 million or 3 million years ago, just as human ancestors Homo ergaster and Homo erectus emerged in Africa, a genetic mutation halted the production of this molecule, and the prehuman immune system began to recognize it as a threat. As a result, researchers find, some hominids would no longer have been able to mate and produce offspring with other populations, potentially driving early humans apart from other apes. "Over time, this incompatibility would reduce and the eliminate individuals with Neu5Gc," study researcher Pascal Gagneux of the University of California, San Diego, said in a statement. |
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Scientists observe human and chimpanzee bone similarities
04-10-11 - Labmate
Scientists in Switzerland have found that humans and chimpanzees have very similar muscle attachment sites at their thigh bones, which could have major consequences for the interpretation of fossil hominin findings.
In a study published in the scientific journal Anatomical Record, anthropologists found that although humans are bipeds and chimps are quadrupeds, the muscle attachment sites are more similar than those between chimpanzees and gorillas, despite the great ape species moving more similarly.
Anthropologist Christopher Zollikofer explained that many fossil thigh bone shafts are well preserved, so inferences about locomotor behaviour must now be "drawn with caution", while thoughts on the fossil's evolutionary relationships could be more straightforward.
The world's oldest profession: chef cooking dates to almost 2 million years ago
22-08-2011 - ScienceNews
Nearly 2 million years ago, it seems the original naked chef was cooking up a storm. Homo erectus, the extinct hominid that’s a mere branch or so away from humans on the family tree, was the first to master cooking, new evidence suggests. This seminal event had huge implications for hominid evolution, giving the ancestors of modern humans time and energy for activities such as running, thinking deep thoughts and inventing things like the wheel and beer-can chicken.
“In the big picture, eating cooked food has huge ramifications,” says Harvard’s Chris Organ, a coauthor of the new study. Cooking and other food-processing techniques aren’t just time-savers; they provide a bigger nutritional punch than a raw diet. The new work is further evidence that cooking literally provided food for thought, making it easier for the body to extract calories from the diet that could then be used to grow a nice, big brain.
Researchers discover oldest evidence of nails in modern primates
15-08-2011 - ScienceBlog
From hot pink to traditional French and Lady Gaga’s sophisticated designs, manicured nails have become the grammar of fashion.
But they are not just pretty — when nails appeared on all fingers and toes in modern primates about 55 million years ago, they led to the development of critical functions, including finger pads that allow for sensitive touch and the ability to grasp, whether it’s a nail polish brush or remover to prepare for the next trend.
In a new study co-authored by University of Florida scientists, researchers recovered and analyzed the oldest fossil evidence of fingernails in modern primates, confirming the idea nails developed with small body size and disproving previous theories nails evolved with an increase in primate body size. More than 25 new specimens of Teilhardina brandti – an extinct primate originally described from a single lower molar — include pieces of upper teeth and ankle bones that show the mammal lived in trees. Its nails allowed the lemur-like animal to grasp onto branches and move through the trees with more agility, researchers said.
