primates

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Half of All Primates Endangered
 Half of All Primates Endangered 
Feb 18, 2010 1:21 AM CST

Half of All Primates Endangered

Deforestation, hunting threaten man's closest kin

(Newser) - Nearly half of all primate species on the planet are in danger of extinction, warns a shocking report by a world conservation organization. Destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bush meat hunting are the key threats to man's closest relatives, according to the International Union for Conservation...

Russians Aim to Send Monkey to Mars

Robot would look after primate during 520-day round trip

(Newser) - The first Earthling to reach Mars may be a Russian monkey, according to scientists at an ex-Soviet facility. The director of an institute that supplied monkeys to the Soviet space program in the '80s says the facility is in talks with Russia's Cosmonautics Academy over supplying animals for a simulated...

Fossil Find Shakes Up Evolution Timeline

Ardipithecus ramidus lived in trees and walked upright

(Newser) - A primate fossil found in Africa in 1994 predates the famous “Lucy” skeleton by 1 million years and offers clues to human evolution, researchers say. “This is huge,” a paleoanthropologist tells the Washington Post. “This is the biggest discovery really since” Lucy. The researchers believe “...

Monkeys Only Like Monkey Music—and Metallica

Heavy metal had calming effect on monkeys who ignored classic rock and jazz

(Newser) - Monkeys subjected to a range of human music ignored Bach, Nine Inch Nails, and jazz, but found Metallica soothing, the Daily Telegraph reports. The experiment on a group of cottontop tamarins, carried out by a psychologist and a cellist, found that while the monkeys showed no response to human music,...

Goodall: Environment Near 'Point of No Return'

(Newser) - The LA Times catches up with chimp guru Jane Goodall, who argues in a new book that that the world is nearly "at the point of no return" on the environment, but that political will can turn things around. Interview excerpts:
  • On the environment: "When I began there
...

If Monkeys Could Talk ...
If Monkeys
Could Talk ...
Jul 9, 2009 3:54 AM CDT

If Monkeys Could Talk ...

Tamarins possess skills fundamental to human language: researchers

(Newser) - Monkeys can recognize “incorrect” syllable pattern in words, revealing that species other than human possess the underlying skills necessary for anguage, the BBC reports. Researchers played recordings of made-up words that shared either a common prefix or suffix for two groups of cotton-top tamarin monkey. Tamarins familiarized with either...

Whatever Happened to Jacko's Bubbles?

Bubbles was Jackson's infamous "bosom pal," but where is he now?

(Newser) - In the wake of Michael Jackson’s death, Neal Rubin of the Detroit News wondered: Whatever happened to Bubbles the chimpanzee? “For a while, Bubbles appeared to be Jackson’s best friend, which was sort of sad for both of them,” Rubin writes. The odd coupling lasted from...

Some Male, Mom Baboons 'Just Friends'

Primatologists baffled by sexless simian friendships

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to figure out why many male baboons enter into platonic friendships with single moms, the BBC reports. Researchers probing relationships within baboon tribes found that the friendships, which did not appear to involve sex in about half the instances, helped mother and offspring dodge the unwanted attentions...

Congo Battles Gorilla Pet Trade

World's only sanctuary for orphaned gorillas seeks to boost tourist numbers

(Newser) - Conservationists trying to save the Republic of Congo's gorillas are fighting to protect the primates from poachers and the pet trade, the Daily Telegraph reports. One foundation, which warns that the gorilla population will be half what it is now by 2020 at the current rate of extermination, has founded...

47M-Year-Old Fossil Evolutionary 'Aunt' to Humans

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest intact primate fossil on record, ABC News reports. Nicknamed “Ida,” the 47-million-year-old lemur-like creature had opposable thumbs, fingernails instead of claws, and legs that could have evolved to walk upright. Scientists don’t think Ida is a direct ancestor of humans, though. “...

Scientists Find Fossil of 'Mother of All Primates'

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a 47 million-year-old primate fossil that they believe represents the common ancestor of all later monkeys, apes, and humans, reports the Wall Street Journal. The find supports a theory that humans' ancient ape-like ancestor was an adapid, which is also believed to be linked to lemurs. The...

Chimp 'Prostitutes' Trade Sex for Meat

Male chimps who shared hunt spoils had twice as many partners

(Newser) - Male chimps who get lucky hunting are a lot likelier to get lucky with female chimps if they share the spoils, a new study finds. Researchers tracked a band of chimps in the wild and found that while all were promiscuous, male hunters who shared meat—generally a rare treat...

Family of Chimp Victim Sues for $50M

They say primate's owner should not have owned 'wild animal'

(Newser) - Relatives of a woman mauled by a pet chimp are suing the primate's owner for $50 million, the New York Post reports today. The family of Charla Nash says Sandra Herold had no business owning a "wild animal with violent propensities" because she didn't have the skill or strength...

Monkeys Teach Their Young to Floss

'Monkey see, monkey floss' behavior surprises scientists

(Newser) - Monkeys in Thailand have been filmed apparently teaching good oral hygiene to their young, the BBC reports. Macaque mothers living in an urban area north of Bangkok were seen flossing with strands of human hair, and doing so with slower, more exaggerated movements when their infants were watching. Researchers—amazed...

Feds Probe Firebombing of Animal Researcher's Car

Attack targeted professor who used primates to study addiction

(Newser) - An federal anti-terror task force is probing the firebombing of a UCLA neuroscientist's car, the Los Angeles Times reports. An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place outside the researcher’s house and caused no injuries. The professor targeted has been using primates for research...

Dogs Get Jealous: Study
 Dogs Get Jealous: Study 
Dec 8, 2008 2:32 PM CST

Dogs Get Jealous: Study

But canine envy is simpler than that felt by primates

(Newser) - Dogs can indeed get jealous, a new study shows. While it’s known that other primates feel envy, the report offers the first evidence of the green-eyed monster in canines. Dogs were paired up and commanded to put their paw in an experimenter’s hand, and then given unequal rewards:...

Long-Lost 'Furby' Species Found

Tiny primate thought extinct found alive and well in Indonesian mountaintop forest

(Newser) - Scientists on a remote Indonesian mountaintop have discovered a pocket-sized primate not seen alive since the 1920s, CNN reports. The giant-eyed, two-ounce pygmy tarsier had been thought extinct until one was found dead in a rat trap, inspiring a professor from Texas A&M University to lead an expedition to...

Tarzan's Old Pal Enjoys His Retirement

At 76, Tarzan co-star keeping busy with painting, TV

(Newser) - Cheeta the chimp is enjoying a fairly humdrum retirement after his glittering showbiz career, Entertainment Weekly reports. Cheeta, at 76 the world's oldest domesticated simian, was plucked from the jungles of Africa as a baby and starred in the '30s Tarzan movies. An "autobiography"—more of a Hollywood...

Phelps' Victory Dance: It's Evolutionary
 Phelps'
 Victory Dance:
 It's Evolutionary
OLYMPICS
Aug 12, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Phelps' Victory Dance: It's Evolutionary

All primates share body language of pride, shame: researchers

(Newser) - The classic chest-out, arms-outstretched victory dance Olympic champ Michael Phelps performed after Sunday's 4-x-100 relay final is older than humanity, the LA Times reports. The same display of pride is instinctive to all primates, researchers say, and the body language of victory and defeat is rooted in the age-old need...

Huge Gorilla Population Found in Congo

125,000 endangered primates located in northern Congo Republic

(Newser) - As recently as last year, the western lowland gorilla was listed as one of the world's most critically endangered primate species, nearly wiped out by the Ebola virus. But an arduous survey has revealed that 125,000 gorillas are living in the northern Congo Republic, deep in a swampy region...

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