Primate Adaptations, Landscapes & Evolutionary Origins group - PALEO

The Primate Adaptations, Landscapes & Evolutionary Origins (PALEO) group centers its work on living primates as key models for understanding the deep past. Our team conducts field-based research on primate behaviour, ecology, health, communication, and culture across a range of habitats in Africa and Asia, including studies of extant apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons), and Cercopithecoids (e.g., baboons, vervet monkeys). We complement these investigations with long-term paleoanthropological, archaeological, and neo-taphonomy research focused on the environments, adaptations, and behaviours of fossil hominins and their ancestors. By integrating data from extant primates and the fossil record, our interdisciplinary group seeks to uncover the evolutionary roots of human behaviour and biology, the ecological pressures that shaped them, and the pathways through which early hominins emerged and dispersed. Our group also shares an important focus on developing initiatives aiming to facilitate access and improve equity in education, via local to global actions. To see more details about our work, collaborative endeavours; outreach activities and news, please visit https://paleo.group/