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Female Lemurs Play It Safe, Live Longer, Study Suggests

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2013Natureadipose tissue, brian gerber, colorado state university, endangered lemur species, escape from predators, females, hormone level, lifestyle, male testes, masculinized genitalia, milne edwards sifaka, mortality risk factors, mystery, patricia wright, primate, rainforest dweller, rainforests of madagascar, ranomafana national park, safer sex, shu fahk, southeastern madagascar, stacey tecot, stephen king, stony brook university, ua anthropologist, university of massachusetts

Females of a little-known primate from the rainforests of Madagascar have been known to outlive their male peers by many years, despite no obvious differences in hormone levels or lifestyle. A team led by a UA anthropologist has found the likely answer to the mystery.

Researchers studying aging in an endangered lemur species report that in old age, females are the safer sex: They live much longer than their male peers.

Females tend to outlive males in many animals, including humans. But in the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka – a rainforest-dweller with orange-red eyes, a black face and woolly dark brown fur – the sexes didn’t seem to differ in any of the ways thought to give females a survival advantage in other animals. (more…)

Human Brain Evolution Tied to Partial Gene Copy That Blocks Original

By Guest PostMay 7, 2012Scienceafrican, brain development gene, chromosome, cortex, denisovans, embryology, evan eichler, evolutionary history, franck polleux, gene duplication, genus homo, homo sapiens, humans, hydatidiform mole, mammalian species, megan dennis, neanderthals, parent gene, peter sudmant, prehistoric human genome, primate, srgap2 gene family, university of washington, xander nuttle

A brain-development gene found exclusively in humans has an unusual evolutionary history and could contribute to what makes us distinctly human. Equally surprising, this is a partial gene created from an incomplete duplication of its “parent” gene in the prehistoric human genome.

Gene duplication is an important driving force in creating physical changes in living things during evolution, explained the researchers studying the SRGAP2 gene family. Drs. Megan Dennis and Xander Nuttle, in the Howard Hughes Medicine Institute research lab of Dr. Evan Eichler, University of Washington professor of genome sciences, co-authored the report on the findings. (more…)

Human Prejudice Has Ancient Evolutionary Roots

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2011Sciencecoast of puerto rico, common ancestor, evolution, evolutionary theorists, human, human culture, human nature, iat, implicit attitudes, ingenious experiments, island, laurie santos, mahzarin banaji, margaret martinez, monkeys, natashya gutierrez, neha mahajan, primate, psychologist, sequence of photos, us versus them

The tendency to perceive others as “us versus them” isn’t exclusively human but appears to be shared by our primate cousins, a new study led by Yale researchers has found.

In a series of ingenious experiments, Yale researchers led by psychologist Laurie Santos showed that monkeys treat individuals from outside their groups with the same suspicion and dislike as their human cousins tend to treat outsiders, suggesting that the roots of human intergroup conflict may be evolutionarily quite ancient. (more…)

Chimpanzee Gangs Kill for Land, New Study Shows

By Guest PostJuly 8, 2010Natureanthropology, behavioral ecologist, chimpanzees, david watts, detroit zoological institute, ecologist, james n spuhler, jane goodall, john mitani, kibale national park, little rock, little rock zoo, ngogo, primate, sylvia amsler, uganda, wenner-gren foundation

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Bands of chimpanzees violently kill individuals from neighboring groups in order to expand their own territory, according to a 10-year study of a chimp community in Uganda that provides the first definitive evidence for this long-suspected function of this behavior.

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Tag Archives: primate

Female Lemurs Play It Safe, Live Longer, Study Suggests

Human Brain Evolution Tied to Partial Gene Copy That Blocks Original

Human Prejudice Has Ancient Evolutionary Roots

Chimpanzee Gangs Kill for Land, New Study Shows