Promiscuous Girls: Calculating Baboons at Wellington Zoo Might Be Modifying Sex Cycle To Trick Their Mate

Ray Toble, a Victoria University Master of Science student said that female hamadryas baboons from Wellington Zoo, New Zealand are changing their sex cycle so that they have a higher chance to mate with someone other than their leader male. There are currently two harems in the zoo exhibit; one with three females and the one with six females. Toble found that females from the smaller harem had a fertile phases that's on average three days longer than the females in the larger harem.

Read more about the news article here.

Is this a behavior unique to Wellington Zoo population? Can this behavior be observed in other zoo populations and in the wild? I think more research and observation needs to be done on this topic but it is certainly fascinating to see that female hamadryas are calculated in their reproductive success. One thing I am not clear about, are there only two male hamadryas baboons at the Wellington Zoo or are these females increasing their chance to mate with male bachelors in the same exhibit.

Donald C. Johanson, The Man Who Discovered Lucy

Paleoanthropologist Donald C. Johanson, discoverer of the oldest fossil bones of erect walking humans on record, displays a plaster-cast skull of a female skeleton he named "Lucy." Photo from Time magazine.

Time magazine had a Q&A with paleoanthropologist, Dr. Donald C. Johanson on his new book, Lucy's legacy: The Quest for Human Origins, a continuation of his previous book, Lucy: The Beginning of Humankind and his discovery of "Lucy" the female Australopithecus afarensis.

To set the record straight, it was the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" that gave birth to the hominid's name, correct?

Yes, the whole camp was listening to Beatles' tape because I was a great Beatles fan, and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was playing and this girl said, well if you think the fossil was a female, why don't you name her Lucy? Initially I was opposed to giving her a cute little name, but that name stuck.

Read about the Q&A here.

Here's a trivia for you: Do you know that Australopithecus afarensis means the Southern ape of Afar, named after the area where Lucy was found (Afar, Ethiopia).

The Evolution Of Race: Homo Erectus?

The 2002 discovery of a Homo erectus fossil found in a marble quarry in Denizli, Turkey was a 20 to 40-year-old dark skinned male with signs of tuberculosis, according to Hurriyet news.

"The 500,000 years old skull fossil is expected to provide hints to the science world on the first humans’ migration and spreading on earth. The fossil agrees with the thesis of mankind originating from Africa", said Mehmet Cihat Alçiçek, assistant professor at the Geological Engineering Faculty in Pamukkale University.

It is documented that as modern humans moved north or south from the equator, their skin color becomes lighter. The further north or south from the equator, production of melanin (skin pigment) in the body decreases gradually so that enough vitamin D can be absorbed from sunlight. This Homo erectus fossil was a dark-skinned male, presumably had migrated out of Africa to Turkey. He had suffered from tuberculosis, a disease susceptible from vitamin D deficiency. Though nothing conclusive can be said about his diet, we can infer that his dark skin was not adaptive to his new environment. His body was simply not absorbing enough vitamin D from sunlight.

What I find particularly interesting from this news article is a snippet of natural selection 500,000 years ago. Depending on where you live geographically, there are selective pressures that select for lighter or darker skin color. Individuals with lighter skin color are better adapted to live further away from the equator while individuals that live close to the equator are better adapted with darker skin tone. This leads me to my question, did the evolution of skin color started in Homo erectus?

Whose hand is this?

Bonnie The Whistling Orangutan

A female orangutan named Bonnie from the National Zoo in Washington DC knows how to whistle and she does it because she can. Bonnie's whistling was documented by Great Ape Trust of Iowa early last December. Her self-taught talent shed new light on the evolution of speech, said Bonnie's keeper Erin Stromberg. "Sounds aren't necessarily all genetic ... they also can be behavioral or ecological, and they are also voluntary", Stromberg added. BBC picked up the story last Thursday.

Bonnie whistles because she feels like it, not because for potential food reward. Researchers thought that orangutans have a limited number of sounds that they can make, all are involuntary responses based on emotions or to avoid predators. Bonnie's whistling certainly changed this perception. It turns out that Bonnie's friend, Indah also knew how to whistle. Scientists believe that Indah learned how to whistle from Bonnie. Indah died in 2004.

Bonnie's vocal plasticity might be the answer for the evolution of speech in orangutans or even the great apes.



"Orangutan’s spontaneous whistling opens new chapter in study of evolution of speech". Click on the Great Ape Trust of Iowa website or the .pdf version to read more.