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Chimp fishing for termites

Chimps have local culture differences when it comes to eating termites

28 May 2020

Different groups of chimpanzees have their own distinct ways of fishing for termites, suggesting these techniques are passed on as a form of local culture


Peru

Monkeys made their way from Africa to South America at least twice

9 April 2020

Two lineages of ancient monkey migrated from Africa to South America more than 30 million years ago. But we’re not sure which ones got there first


Orangutans

Orangutans and other great apes under threat from covid-19 pandemic

2 April 2020

Many great ape species are already in a precarious situation because of their dwindling numbers. Now they may also be at risk from the coronavirus pandemic


Plectrocebus parecis monkey

Monkeys hiding on a plateau in the Amazon turn out to be new species

20 December 2019

The Parecis plateau is home to a new species of titi monkey with grey, brown and white fur. It was known to local people, but scientists overlooked it for a century


Huge mysterious ape Gigantopithecus was a distant cousin of orangutans

Huge mysterious ape Gigantopithecus was a distant cousin of orangutans

13 November 2019

A pioneering technique has given us a glimpse at the family tree of Gigantopithecus, an extinct ape that was 2.5 metres tall and lived 300,000 years ago


Did apes first walk upright on two legs in Europe, not Africa?

6 November 2019

An extinct ape that lived in Germany 11.6 million years ago may have been bipedal – even though walking upright is the hallmark of more human-like species


monkey using stone tool

Some monkeys reuse their stone tools but others just chuck them away

25 October 2019

The monkeys on one Asian island reuse their stone tools many times – but on an island just 9 km away, the monkeys throw their tools away after a few uses


Baby apes

Mystery of why humans walk upright may be explained by surprise fossil

20 September 2019

We thought that walking on all fours like a gorilla is more primitive than walking on two legs as humans do. But new fossils suggest even very ancient apes walked upright


Humpback whales

Whales evolved large brains in the same way that we did

18 September 2019

Whales and dolphins evolved large brains in the same way as primates and having a broad diet may have been the trigger


Chimpanzees and a child

We may have a basic form of sign language in common with chimpanzees

13 September 2019

People seem to be able to understand gestures made by chimpanzees, suggesting the signals may be remnants of a basic sign language used by our last common ancestors


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