Topic description and stories

Chimpanzee

Tree-dwelling mammals survived after asteroid strike destroyed forests

14 Oct 2021

An asteroid strike 66 million years ago wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and devastated the Earth’s forests, but tree-dwelling ancestors of primates...

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One of the captive chimpanzees in the research trial receiving the oral Ebola vaccination

Final biomedical trial on captive chimpanzees is first oral Ebola vaccine for saving wild apes

09 Mar 2017

Oral vaccine offers hope for ape species ravaged by Ebola and other diseases, as it can be widely dispersed to save more wild animals. However...

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Baboon troop

Baboons watch neighbours for clues about food, but can end up in queues

20 Apr 2016

Baboons learn about food locations socially through monitoring the behaviour of those around them. While proximity to others is the key to acquiring...

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Barbary Macaques in their natural habitat of the Atlas Mountains

Monkeys regulate metabolism to cope with environment and rigours of mating season

20 Apr 2016

The flexible physiology of Barbary macaques in responding to extreme environmental conditions of their natural habitat may help shed light on the...

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A black howler monkey chorus

Calls vs. balls: monkeys with more impressive roars produce less sperm

22 Oct 2015

Evolutionary ‘trade-off’ between size of throat and testes discovered in howler monkeys furthers Darwin’s theory of sexual selection and corresponds...

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Young chimpanzee playing with branches.

Young male chimpanzees play more than females with objects, but do not become better tool users

07 Oct 2015

Research into differences between chimpanzees and bonobos in ‘preparation’ for tool use reveals intriguing sex bias in object manipulation in young...

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A Young Chimpanzee Playing with Twigs

Tool use is 'innate' in chimpanzees but not bonobos, their closest evolutionary relative

16 Jun 2015

First evidence for a species difference in the innate predisposition for tool use in our closest evolutionary cousins could provide insight into how...

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Grooming

Baboons prefer to spend time with others of the same age, status and even personality

13 May 2015

Latest research shows that, within large troops, baboons spend more time grooming those with similar dominance rank and boldness to themselves...

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A chimpanzee uses a stone to crack a nut

Opportunity, and not necessity, is the mother of invention

12 Nov 2014

When food is scarce, tool use among non-human primates does not increase. This counterintuitive finding leads researchers to suggest that the driving...

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Chimp eating army ants using an 'ant-dipping' tool

Chimpanzees have favourite ‘tool set’ for hunting staple food of army ants

16 Oct 2014

New research shows that chimpanzees search for the right tools from a key plant species when preparing to ‘ant dip’ - a crafty technique enabling...

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Common chimpanzee

Ebola vaccine success highlights dilemma of testing on captive chimps to save wild apes

26 May 2014

Study illustrates “high conservation potential” of vaccines for endangered wild primates devastated by viral disease, but highlights need for access...

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Social learning in baboons

To boldly go – how personality predicts social learning in baboons

11 Mar 2014

Like other social animals, baboons learn from each other about which foods are best to eat. Now, researchers at Cambridge have found that how well...

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