7 June 2023
Masturbation in male primates seems to have evolved to boost reproductive success and cut the chance of getting a sexually transmitted infection, but the picture isn’t so clear for females
11 August 2022
Unlike people, 43 species of monkeys and apes are known to have so-called vocal membranes, which may prevent them from having precise voice control
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
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
27 May 2019
Monkeys in Senegal have learned to adapt to drones flying over their habitat. They use a similar call to when they spot an eagle to alert others
20 May 2019
Bonobo mothers help their sons with hook-ups, guard the young lovers while they mate, and even haul rival males off females mid-sex
12 November 2018
Jamaica was once home to a sloth-like monkey – now we know it was a strange descendant of South America’s titi monkeys that adapted to island life
2 July 2018
One group of capuchins uses stone tools, but neighbouring groups do not – suggesting primates - including us - might enter the Stone Age simply by chance
24 May 2018
Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour
18 May 2018
When female bonobos went into labour, other females gathered around to keep them safe, swatting away flies and even seemingly trying to catch the baby as it emerged
