Anthropology

Anthropology

Red-Ape Stroll

Wild orangutans regularly walk upright through the trees, raising the controversial possibility that the two-legged stance is not unique to hominids.

Anthropology

Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people

Chimpanzees, as well as 18-month-old children, will assist strangers even when getting no personal reward, suggesting that human altruism has deep evolutionary roots.

Anthropology

Chicken of the Sea: Poultry may have reached Americas via Polynesia

Polynesians may have traveled back and forth to South America more than 600 years ago, introducing chickens to the Americas in the process.

Anthropology

When female chimps become baby killers

Although long thought to be rare, instances in which female chimps band together to kill other females' infants occur fairly regularly under certain circumstances.

Anthropology

Kin play limited role in chimp cooperation

Male chimps collaborate in a variety of ways and, like people, often find partners outside of their immediate families for cooperative ventures.

Anthropology

Children of Prehistory

Accumulating evidence suggests that children and teenagers produced much prehistoric cave art and perhaps left behind many fledgling attempts at stone-tool making as well.

Anthropology

Disinherited Ancestor: Lucy’s kind may occupy evolutionary side branch

A controversial analysis of a recently discovered jaw from a 3-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis puts Lucy's species on an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out.

Anthropology

Asian Trek: Fossil puts ancient humans in Far East

A 40,000-year-old partial human skeleton from a Chinese cave intensifies a debate over whether Stone Age people dispersing from Africa interbred with humanlike species that they encountered.

Anthropology

Mysterious Migrations

Controversial new studies report that modern humans from Africa launched cultural advances in Europe at least 36,000 years ago and reached what's now western Russia more than 40,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Ancient Slow Growth: Fossil teeth show roots of human development

An extended period of childhood evolved in people at least 160,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Tools for Prey: Female chimps move to fore in hunting

For the first time, researchers have observed wild chimpanzees making and using tools to hunt other animals, a practice adopted mainly by adult females and youngsters.

Anthropology

New age for ancient Americans

New radiocarbon dates indicate that the Clovis people, long considered the first well-documented settlers of the New World, inhabited North America considerably later and for a much shorter time than previously thought.