Primates
Primates
Articles tagged with "Primates"
My sleepless night in a chimpanzee nest
Unraveling the mystery of human evolution, thirty-five feet in the air.
Modern apes may have actually evolved in North Africa or the Middle East
Fossil jaw remains found in Egypt suggest that the earliest modern apes evolved in North Africa, not in East Africa where most fossils have been found.
A bonobo’s imaginary tea party hints that apes can pretend
Kanzi would sometimes play with imaginary juice and grapes, just as humans might. The bonobo's ability challenges old ideas about how animals think.
Wild monkeys invaded Florida. Should people protect them?
A colony of African vervets in Dania Beach raises big questions about how humans can and should manage nonnative species.
‘We cannot replace USAID, but we can do big things’: conservation plots a future without American money
The Trump administration’s cuts to biodiversity funding have imperiled species, habitats and the people who defend both. Now the world is seeking a new way forward.
Bonobos are just as aggressive as chimps, but there's a key difference — the female bonobos
A new study of chimpanzee and bonobo groups at zoos reveals similar levels of aggression. However, scientists found stark sex-based differences between the species.
Analyze This: Primates may have evolved in the cold
Scientists thought the ancestor of humans and apes lived in the tropics. A new study points to a chilly location instead for primate evolution.
Brazilian tamarins offer lessons on how to return species to the wild
Efforts included letting the monkeys roam free in urban U.S. parks. Restoring natural behaviors was key to golden lion tamarins' survival in the wild.
As toddlers, chimps are major risk takers
Human kiddos are generally too closely supervised to be able to monkey around as much as young chimps. Instead, older kids — teens — are usually the bigger risk takers.
'Devastation' as gorilla dies days after moving to new home
Bristol Zoo Project Jock, 42, was one of the oldest silverbacks in the UK A silverback western lowland gorilla has died days after he was moved to a new home.
‘That’s a losing battle’: baboon incursions cause tense human-wildlife standoff in Cape Town
At the edge of Da Gama Park, where the Cape Town suburb meets the mountain, baboons jumped from the road to garden walls to roofs and back again. Children from South African navy families living in the area’s modest houses played in the street.
Viral monkey Punch rejected by mother given stuffed orangutan
An abandoned baby monkey who broke millions of hearts online, after being spotted hugging an orangutan stuffed toy given to him as a substitute for his mother, has finally found comfort among his own kind.
Kanzi the bonobo could play pretend — a trait thought unique to humans
Past anecdotal observations have hinted that great apes play pretend. But now, experimental research shows that our closest living relatives can keep track of imaginary objects.
Can bonobos use their imagination?
In a series of tea party-like experiments, a bonobo was able to identify imaginary juice and grapes. Kanzi was a famous bonobo who could understand spoken English and taught scientists a lot about primate behavior. He participated in experiments about imagination before his death in 2025.
A bonobo’s imaginary tea party suggests apes can play pretend
Humans may not be the only primates with the power to imagine. During a make-believe tea party, a bonobo named Kanzi kept track of invisible juice and imaginary grapes, researchers report.
'Part of the evolutionary fabric of our societies': Same-sex sexual behavior in primates may be a survival strategy, study finds
A new study comparing 59 species of primates linked same-sex sexual behavior to scarce resources and more predators in socially complex species. The findings show diverse sexual behaviors are common — and likely beneficial in primates.
Rare twins born in DRC raise cautious hope for endangered mountain gorillas
It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Incredibly rare mountain gorilla twins born in Virunga: 'It’s kind of miraculous'
The twins were born to a 22-year-old female named Mafuko, who lost her own mother to armed individuals. The extremely endangered species currently numbers at just over 1,000. Mafuko, a 22-year-old mountain gorilla, was spotted holding twins, which the park says are both male.
Rare mountain gorilla twins born in DR Congo's Virunga National Park
Trackers in DR Congo's Virunga National Park spotted the babies being hugged by their mother on Saturday.
'Her behaviour could be extreme': The woman who gave her life to save the gorillas
Dian Fossey transformed our view of mountain gorillas while fighting to save them. But she was also a flawed obsessive whose murder remains a mystery to this day.
Orangutans rescued from the wildlife trade undergo intensive re-training to return to the wild
Welcome to jungle school—where orphaned orangutans are learning the basics for survival that they will need for life in the wild.
‘I consider him my first son’: how living with a baby monkey taught me I’m ready to be a dad
I n 2022, I had a job at an estate agents in Paris selling ridiculously expensive flats, and decided I needed to do something more meaningful with my life. I resigned, and six months later arrived in Guinea . In hindsight I was a young kid, full of anger, not happy with his life.
Orangutan adopts little sister after their mother's death
For the first time, scientists have published a detailed report of adoption in these great apes.
Bonobos transformed how we think about animal societies. Can we save the last of the ‘hippy apes’?
They are peaceful, female-led and use sex in everyday interactions. Now a new conservation scheme could offer a lifeline to our critically endangered close relatives living on the Congo river.
Charging gorilla named Denny breaks glass barrier at San Diego Zoo enclosure
The zoo said neither people nor primates were injured after the 10-year-old western lowland gorilla broke one of three layers on a tempered glass panel.
My sleepless night in a chimpanzee nest
Unraveling the mystery of human evolution, thirty-five feet in the air.
Modern apes may have actually evolved in North Africa or the Middle East
Fossil jaw remains found in Egypt suggest that the earliest modern apes evolved in North Africa, not in East Africa where most fossils have been found.
A bonobo’s imaginary tea party hints that apes can pretend
Kanzi would sometimes play with imaginary juice and grapes, just as humans might. The bonobo's ability challenges old ideas about how animals think.
Wild monkeys invaded Florida. Should people protect them?
A colony of African vervets in Dania Beach raises big questions about how humans can and should manage nonnative species.
‘We cannot replace USAID, but we can do big things’: conservation plots a future without American money
The Trump administration’s cuts to biodiversity funding have imperiled species, habitats and the people who defend both. Now the world is seeking a new way forward.
Bonobos are just as aggressive as chimps, but there's a key difference — the female bonobos
A new study of chimpanzee and bonobo groups at zoos reveals similar levels of aggression. However, scientists found stark sex-based differences between the species.
Analyze This: Primates may have evolved in the cold
Scientists thought the ancestor of humans and apes lived in the tropics. A new study points to a chilly location instead for primate evolution.
Brazilian tamarins offer lessons on how to return species to the wild
Efforts included letting the monkeys roam free in urban U.S. parks. Restoring natural behaviors was key to golden lion tamarins' survival in the wild.
As toddlers, chimps are major risk takers
Human kiddos are generally too closely supervised to be able to monkey around as much as young chimps. Instead, older kids — teens — are usually the bigger risk takers.
'Devastation' as gorilla dies days after moving to new home
Bristol Zoo Project Jock, 42, was one of the oldest silverbacks in the UK A silverback western lowland gorilla has died days after he was moved to a new home.
‘That’s a losing battle’: baboon incursions cause tense human-wildlife standoff in Cape Town
At the edge of Da Gama Park, where the Cape Town suburb meets the mountain, baboons jumped from the road to garden walls to roofs and back again. Children from South African navy families living in the area’s modest houses played in the street.
Viral monkey Punch rejected by mother given stuffed orangutan
An abandoned baby monkey who broke millions of hearts online, after being spotted hugging an orangutan stuffed toy given to him as a substitute for his mother, has finally found comfort among his own kind.
Kanzi the bonobo could play pretend — a trait thought unique to humans
Past anecdotal observations have hinted that great apes play pretend. But now, experimental research shows that our closest living relatives can keep track of imaginary objects.
Can bonobos use their imagination?
In a series of tea party-like experiments, a bonobo was able to identify imaginary juice and grapes. Kanzi was a famous bonobo who could understand spoken English and taught scientists a lot about primate behavior. He participated in experiments about imagination before his death in 2025.
A bonobo’s imaginary tea party suggests apes can play pretend
Humans may not be the only primates with the power to imagine. During a make-believe tea party, a bonobo named Kanzi kept track of invisible juice and imaginary grapes, researchers report.
'Part of the evolutionary fabric of our societies': Same-sex sexual behavior in primates may be a survival strategy, study finds
A new study comparing 59 species of primates linked same-sex sexual behavior to scarce resources and more predators in socially complex species. The findings show diverse sexual behaviors are common — and likely beneficial in primates.
Rare twins born in DRC raise cautious hope for endangered mountain gorillas
It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Incredibly rare mountain gorilla twins born in Virunga: 'It’s kind of miraculous'
The twins were born to a 22-year-old female named Mafuko, who lost her own mother to armed individuals. The extremely endangered species currently numbers at just over 1,000. Mafuko, a 22-year-old mountain gorilla, was spotted holding twins, which the park says are both male.
Rare mountain gorilla twins born in DR Congo's Virunga National Park
Trackers in DR Congo's Virunga National Park spotted the babies being hugged by their mother on Saturday.
'Her behaviour could be extreme': The woman who gave her life to save the gorillas
Dian Fossey transformed our view of mountain gorillas while fighting to save them. But she was also a flawed obsessive whose murder remains a mystery to this day.
Orangutans rescued from the wildlife trade undergo intensive re-training to return to the wild
Welcome to jungle school—where orphaned orangutans are learning the basics for survival that they will need for life in the wild.
‘I consider him my first son’: how living with a baby monkey taught me I’m ready to be a dad
I n 2022, I had a job at an estate agents in Paris selling ridiculously expensive flats, and decided I needed to do something more meaningful with my life. I resigned, and six months later arrived in Guinea . In hindsight I was a young kid, full of anger, not happy with his life.
Orangutan adopts little sister after their mother's death
For the first time, scientists have published a detailed report of adoption in these great apes.
Bonobos transformed how we think about animal societies. Can we save the last of the ‘hippy apes’?
They are peaceful, female-led and use sex in everyday interactions. Now a new conservation scheme could offer a lifeline to our critically endangered close relatives living on the Congo river.
Charging gorilla named Denny breaks glass barrier at San Diego Zoo enclosure
The zoo said neither people nor primates were injured after the 10-year-old western lowland gorilla broke one of three layers on a tempered glass panel.
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