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Primate’s scent speaks volumes about who he is

June 23, 2008. Perhaps judging a man by his cologne isn’t as superficial as it seems. Duke University researchers, using sophisticated machinery to analyze hundreds of chemical components in a ringtailed lemur’s distinctive scent, have found that individual males are not only advertising their fitness for fatherhood, but also a bit about their family tree as well. […]

Small primate ancestors had a leg up

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 […]

Lemurs’ evolutionary history may shed light on our own

February 25, 2008. After swabbing the cheeks of more than 200 lemurs and related primates to collect their DNA, researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and Duke Lemur Center now have a much clearer picture of their evolutionary family tree. Read the full story here.

Brain, size and gender surprises in latest fossil tying humans, apes and monkeys

May 14, 2007. A surprisingly complete fossil skull of an ancient relative of humans, apes and monkeys bears striking evidence that our remote ancestor was less mentally advanced than expected by about 29 million years ago. Read the full story here.

‘Banana-jawed’ fossil mammal linked to rare sound-producing skill

April 26, 2006. Paleontologists at the Duke Lemur Center have assembled a new picture of a 35-million-year-old fossil mammal — and they even have added a hint of sound. By painstakingly measuring hundreds of specimens of a fossil mammal called Thyrohyrax, recovered from the famous fossil beds of Egypt’s Fayum Province, the researchers determined that males of […]

Biologists deciphering complex lemur scent language

August 9, 2004. A “stink fight” between ring-tailed lemurs might be dead serious to them. But to observers, the scented struggle ranks among the more odd, even comical sights at the Duke University Primate Center. Preparations for battle begin when male combatants load their “weapons” — vigorously rubbing their tails against their shoulders and between their wrists, […]

Experiments reveal startling insights into lemur intelligence

May 12, 2004. Until now, primatologists believed lemurs to be primitive, ancient offshoots of the primate family tree, with far less intelligence than their more sophisticated cousins, monkeys, apes and humans. But at the Duke University Primate Center, with the gentle touch of his nose to a computer screen, the ringtail lemur called Aristides is teaching […]

Duke commits to enhance Primate Center

October 23, 2003. Duke University officials have announced that the Duke University Primate Center has made sufficient progress toward improving its research and educational programs that the university will commit to maintaining and enhancing the center for the foreseeable future. The center is the world’s only research and education center devoted to prosimians and comprises the […]