Living World / Primates

Homo Sapiens, Meet Your New Astounding Family

Once we shared the planet with other 
human species, 
competing with them and interbreeding with them. Today 
we stand alone, but our rivals’ genes live on inside us—even as their remarkable stories are only 
now coming to light. 07.28.2011

The 100 Top Science Stories of 2010

Every year DISCOVER sorts through the scientific accomplishments of the past 12 months, and assembles a list of the coolest experiments, most brilliant discoveries, and most world-changing events. As you page through the countdown to the #1 science story, we think you'll come to the same conclusion we did: 2010 was quite a year. 12.16.2010

Man's Greatest Crimes Against the Earth, in Pictures

Humans rule the world… and destroy it in the process. 04.08.2009

Darwin's Dystopias: Ghastly Visions Inspired by Evolution

A new collection of art shows how one scientist shocked the world. 02.12.2009

Skipping the Problem Is a Jump Towards Curing Paralysis

Researchers discover a way to re-route brain signals to a paralyzed limb. 01.10.2009

#45: Huge Population of Lowland Gorillas Found

For once, researchers come up with good news for an endangered species. 12.14.2008

#64: Spain Gives Great Apes Legal Rights

The animals have the right to life and protection from harmful research practices. 12.10.2008

Laurie Santos

What does the "Monkey Whisperer" read at night? 10.30.2008

Why Darwin Would Have Loved Botox

All those wrinkle-causing winces, smirks, and sneers may have been the product of evolution. 10.15.2008

The "Monkey Whisperer" Learns the Secrets of Primate Economics

Laurie Santos penetrates the world of monkeys... and finds they're more like humans than we think. 10.13.2008

Laughter May Outlive Humans—and Even Numbers

Chimps and orangutans agree: Humor is truly fundamental. 06.27.2008

Chimps Agree: A Bird in Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

Chimpanzees are downright conservative when it comes to trading for better food. 05.14.2008

Has Science Found a Way to End All Wars?

Given adequate food, fuel, and gender equality, mass conflict just might disappear. 03.13.2008

George Schaller's Grand Plan to Save the Marco Polo Sheep

"Obviously humans are evolution’s greatest mistake," says the conservationist. 02.21.2008

84. Chimps Show Altruistic Streak

01.15.2008

Whatever Happened To... the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis?

How else to explain naked skin, enlarged mammaries, subcutaenous fat... 12.05.2007

Reflections of a Naked Ape

Desmond Morris observes the life of Desmond Morris. 11.21.2007

The Simplistic Manifesto

Intelligent design misses the point. Again. 07.02.2007

Was Lucy a Brutal Brawler?

These legs were made for fighting. 06.26.2007

Raw Data: The Ancient Chimp Stone Age

Chimps created tools like humans' over 4,000 years ago. 05.23.2007

The Discover Interview: Jane Goodall

For 47 years, Goodall has studied, communicated with, and lived with chimps. 03.28.2007

Bondo Mystery Ape

Proves to be a chimpanzee with unusual habits. 03.15.2007

Raw Data: Scents and Scents-Ability

Our clumsy noses won't win any sniffing contests, but we can use them to find chocolate. 03.15.2007

Your Color Gives You Away

Meet the emotionally naked ape. 06.25.2006

You Say "Ook Ook," I Say "Aak Aak"

Are monkey calls the simian version of local dialects? 06.25.2006

The 2% Difference

Now that scientists have decoded the chimpanzee genome, we know that 98 percent of our DNA is the same. So how can we be so different? 04.04.2006

The Year in Science: Genetics

01.08.2006

Gorillas Use Tools Too

Big doesn't necessarily mean stupid. 10.21.2005

The List Gets Longer: New Primates Found

04.28.2005

22: Proteins Make the Primate

01.03.2005

Monkeys Take a Swipe at AIDS

09.30.2004

Gorillas Learn to Keep the Peace

07.25.2004

Discover Dialogue: Primatologist Jane Goodall

We're not the only creatures with personalities, minds, and feelings. 05.29.2004

Meet the Primate Parent

04.21.2004

Monkeys Show They Know What They Know

03.28.2004

Good-bye, Snowflake

02.05.2004

Anthropology

01.02.2004

The Hardy Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

The scientist who destroyed our quaint concept of what a mother ought to be comes to terms with her own life 03.01.2003

Late Retirement for the Space Chimps

01.01.2003

An Embarrassment of Chimps

The U.S. is the last Western country that still uses them for medical research. 05.01.2002

The Biology of . . . Handedness

Studies of chimpanzees finally give southpaws a fair shake 01.01.2002

Steven Wise He Speaks for the Speechless

09.01.2001

Homo Intoxicatus

06.01.2000

Aping Culture

Chimpanzees speak in dialects, invent odd grooming styles, and drum better than most kids in marching bands. So what's left to separate them from us? 05.01.2000

Monkey See, Human Do?

09.01.1999

Ambling Australopithecine

11.01.1998

A Briquette a Day

07.01.1998

Monkey Allies

08.01.1997

Virtual Gorillas

04.01.1997

01.01.1997

A Marmoset With Appendages

01.01.1997

The Tarzan Syndrome

Only apes, it seems, alone among all the animals, can truly distinguish themselves fromt he world around them. But only the naked apes, apparently, can conceive of not just self but other. 11.01.1996

Mega-monkey

09.01.1996

First, Kill the Babies

In the fierce evolutionary battle to pass on one's genes, says one controversial hypothesis, everyone else is a potential competitor--even the infants. 09.01.1996

Monkeys With Zest

07.01.1996

The Graying of the Troops

Baboons who live to a ripe old age are the ones who know what friends are for. 03.01.1996

Tooling Through the Trees

11.01.1995

Apes of Wrath

08.01.1995

On the Rights of an Ape

02.01.1994

Waist-Deep in Silverbacks

03.01.1993

The Young and the Reckless

Every day young primates leave the comfort of home to live through weeks and months of abuse at the hands of beastly strangers. Why in the world do they--and we--do it? 03.01.1993