May 15, 2008. Smaller primates expend no more energy climbing than they do walking, Duke University researchers have found. This surprising discovery may explain the evolutionary edge that encouraged the tiny ancestors of modern humans, apes and monkeys to climb into the trees about 65 million years ago and stay there. The researchers compared the energy consumed by five different primate species while negotiating vertical and horizontal treadmills. Their work appears in the journal Science. Read the full story here.
