Apes News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Chimpanzees Perform Better on Challenging Computer Tasks When They Have an Audience

Nov. 8, 2024 — When people have an audience watching them, it can change their performance for better or worse. Now, researchers have found that chimpanzees' performance on computer tasks is influenced by the ...

Oct. 30, 2024 — In common marmosets, the brain regions that process social interactions develop very slowly, extending until early adulthood, like in humans. During this time, all group members are involved in raising the infants, which contributes to the species' ...

It's Not to Be. Universe Too Short for Shakespeare Typing Monkeys

Oct. 30, 2024 — It would take far longer than the lifespan of our universe for a typing monkey to randomly produce Shakespeare, a new study ...

Why Langurs Drink Salt Water

Oct. 28, 2024 — A new study shows the remarkable adaptability of the critically endangered Cat Ba langurs. Despite low genetic diversity, the langurs have retained key genetic traits that help them survive in their isolated environment on Cat Ba Island in Vietnam. ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:16pm EST

Birth: It's a Tight Squeeze for Chimpanzees, Too

Oct. 23, 2024 — According to a new study, chimpanzees, like humans, must contend with a confined bony birth canal when giving birth. In humans, the problem was exacerbated by our unique form of upright walking since ...

Bonobos May Be More Vulnerable Than Previously Thought, Suggests Genetics Study

Oct. 15, 2024 — Bonobos, endangered great apes that are among our closest relatives, might be more vulnerable than previously understood, finds a genetics study that ...

Dance, Gibbon, Dance!

Oct. 11, 2024 — Female crested gibbons display jerky, almost geometric patterns of movement. Researchers have studied these conspicuous movements, which are comparable to human dances. They describe the structure of ...

Multiple Ways to Evolve Tiny Knee Bone Could Have Helped Humans Walk Upright

Sep. 11, 2024 — The evolution of bones in primates' knees could have implications for how humans evolved to walk ...

Self-Medicating Gorillas and Traditional Healers Provide Clues for New Drug Discovery

Sep. 11, 2024 — Four plants consumed by wild gorillas in Gabon and used by local communities in traditional medicine show antibacterial and antioxidant properties, ...

Bonobos and Ancient Origin of the 'Common Enemy Effect'

Aug. 23, 2024 — A link between outgroup threats and ingroup cohesion has been considered since the time of Darwin to be an adaptation for group-based competition. During the years since, studies of all sorts -- from ...

Colorful Traits in Primates Ease Tensions Between Groups

Aug. 22, 2024 — Primate ornamentation plays a crucial role in communication not only within social groups but also between them, according to a new study. The research reveals that the males of species with ...

Chimpanzees Gesture Back and Forth Quickly Like in Human Conversations

July 22, 2024 — When people are having a conversation, they rapidly take turns speaking and sometimes even interrupt. Now, researchers who have collected the largest ever dataset of chimpanzee 'conversations' have ...

Wild Chimpanzees Seek out Medicinal Plants to Treat Illness and Injuries

June 20, 2024 — Chimpanzees appear to consume plants with medicinal properties to treat their ailments, according to a new ...

Research Into Structures of Ape Hearts Provide Insight Into Human Evolution

June 17, 2024 — Researchers have discovered new insights into the human heart's structure, revealing its evolutionary history. This study enhances understanding of heart development and its implications for treating ...

Study on Architecture of Heart Offers New Understanding of Human Evolution

June 14, 2024 — An international research team has uncovered a new insight into human evolution by comparing humans' hearts with those of other great ...

Tiny New Species of Great Ape Lived in Germany 11 Million Years Ago

June 7, 2024 — Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new ...

Complete X and Y Chromosome Sequences of Living Great Ape Species Determined

May 29, 2024 — Newly generated, complete genomes for the sex chromosomes of six primate species may inform conservation of these endangered species and shed light on sex-related genetic diseases in both humans and ...

Chimps Learn and Improve Tool-Using Skills Even as Adults, Study Finds

May 7, 2024 — Chimpanzees continue to learn and hone their skills well into adulthood, a capacity that might be essential for the evolution of complex and varied tool use, according to a new ...

Wild Orangutan Treats Wound With Pain-Relieving Plant

May 2, 2024 — A wild orangutan was observed applying a plant with known medicinal properties to a wound, a first for a wild ...

Bonobos Are More Aggressive Than Previously Thought, Study Shows

Apr. 12, 2024 — Chimpanzees and bonobos are often thought to reflect two different sides of human nature -- the conflict-ready chimpanzee versus the peaceful bonobo -- but a new study shows that, within their own ...

Demand for Critical Minerals Puts African Great Apes at Risk

Apr. 3, 2024 — A recent study shows that the threat of mining to the great ape population in Africa has been greatly ...

First View of Centromere Variation and Evolution

Apr. 3, 2024 — A genomic study of human and selected nonhuman primate centromeres has revealed their unimaginable diversity and speed of evolutionary change. Although centromeres are vital to proper cell ...

Wild Bird Gestures 'After You'

Mar. 25, 2024 — A small-bird species, the Japanese tit (Parus minor), uses wing movements as a gesture to convey the message 'after you,' according to new research. When a mating pair arrives at their nest ...

Chimp Moms Play With Their Offspring Through Good Times and Bad

Mar. 14, 2024 — A recent study observing wild chimpanzees over a period of more than 10 years revealed that when food gets scarcer, the adults put play aside and focus on survival, while mother chimps continue to be ...

African Great Apes Predicted to See Frequent Extreme Climate Events in the Next 30 Years

Feb. 28, 2024 — African apes are already being exposed to climate change impacts, and will experience extreme events such as wildfires, heatwaves and flooding more frequently in the next 30 years, according to a new ...

Change in Gene Code May Explain How Human Ancestors Lost Tails

Feb. 28, 2024 — A genetic change in our ancient ancestors may partly explain why humans don't have tails like ...

Physically Impaired Primates Find Ways to Modify Their Behaviors to Compensate for Their Disabilities

Feb. 20, 2024 — Primates show a remarkable ability to modify their behaviours to accommodate their physical disabilities and impairments, according to a new literature review. Whether the disabilities are the result ...

Love Songs Lead Scientists to New Populations of Skywalker Gibbons in Myanmar

Feb. 14, 2024 — The love songs of the Skywalker gibbon alerted scientists to a new population of the endangered primate in ...

Great Apes Playfully Tease Each Other

Feb. 13, 2024 — Babies playfully tease others as young as eight months of age. Since language is not required for this behavior, similar kinds of playful teasing might be present in non-human animals. Now cognitive ...

How Food Availability Could Catalyze Cultural Transmission in Wild Orangutans

Feb. 5, 2024 — The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" has been used to describe the source from which our cultural evolution springs. After all, need in times of scarcity has forced humans to ...

How Did Humans Learn to Walk? New Evolutionary Study Offers an Earful

Jan. 29, 2024 — A new study, which centers on evidence from skulls of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape, Lufengpithecus, offers important clues about the origins of bipedal locomotion courtesy of a novel method: ...

Predicting Others' Preference-Based Choices Is Cross-Cultural and Uniquely Human

Jan. 17, 2024 — Children across cultures can anticipate other individuals' choices based on their preferences, according to a new study. However, non-human great apes appear to lack this ...

The Extinction of the Giant Ape: Long-Standing Mystery Solved

Jan. 10, 2024 — The largest ever primate Gigantopithecus blacki went extinct when other Asian great apes were thriving, and its demise has long been a mystery. A massive regional study of 22 caves in southern China ...

New Research Sheds Light on an Old Fossil Solving an Evolutionary Mystery

Jan. 10, 2024 — Picrodontids -- an extinct family of placental mammals that lived several million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs -- are not primates as previously ...