apes
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How the Largest Primate Ever Went Extinct
The largest primate in our family tree went extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago, and its existence has been known to humankind for less than a century. Now, a team of researchers has reviewed the ancient records and devised a more specific extinction window for our huge fallen relative, Gigantopithecus blacki, and pointed out…
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Bonobos Appear to Say ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ to Each Other
You don’t walk up to a coworker without some sort of greeting, and you don’t end conversations simply by turning heel. There are rules to the game of social behaviour, and now a research team studying chimpanzees and bonobos say those great apes have social habits that look a lot like what we humans call…
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Human Thumbs Got a Major Upgrade 2 Million Years Ago, Sparking a Cultural Revolution, Study Finds
The human thumb is a marvel of evolution, allowing our ancestors to craft stone tools and radically expand their food choices. New research suggests our agile, dextrous thumbs appeared 2 million years ago, in a development that irrevocably changed the course of human history.
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Toddlers And Chimpanzees Share A Surprising Unspoken Language
Prior to developing the capacity for speech, toddlers communicate their desires, demands and discontent using a diverse repertoire of physical gestures. As a new study shows, there’s a significant amount of overlap between the gestures employed by human children and those made by other ape species, a finding that’s casting new light on the origin…