The Georgian Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy is in talks with Russia's Cosmonautics Academy about starting a program to train monkeys for an eventual journey to Mars. The Institute supplied monkeys to the Russian space program in the 1980s, when Russia began sending monkeys into orbit. Now Russia is considering sending monkeys to Mars before putting human cosmonauts at risk. Because a round-trip voyage to Mars would take an estimated 520 days and would subject cosmonauts to high levels of radiation, there are concerns about sending humans on the initial trip. Instead, we may get to see how other primates fare first.

If Russia does decide to begin a Martian monkey program, a biosphere would be constructed at the Institute to allow for simulated missions. While on these faux missions, the monkeys would interact with a robot instead of their human handlers. The Institute is looking to train the monkeys to cooperate with such robots, which would feed and clean up after the monkeys.

Monkey to be sent to Mars [Telegraph]

Hailing from the Middle Eocene (about 47 million years ago), this discovery will help to shed light on the early history of a potential human ancestor. Discovered in the late 1980s, the specimen was divided into two separate parts and sold to different buyers, and wasn't reassembled until 2007.

This new species, now called Darwinius masillae, is named for Charles Darwin, and is believed to exist very close to an evolutionary branch that would eventually lead to modern primates and humans. This specimen in particular is a young female, named Ida, and is so highly preserved that soft tissues and fur impressions were preserved, along with the digestive tract that allowed researchers to discover the last meal that it ingested - fruits and leaves. She also had a broken wrist, which had since healed, and it is believed that she would have been about 9 months old. Alive, she would have weighed around two pounds, and about two feet in length.

This finding is a remarkable one, not only for the high preservation of the fossil, but for the potential implications for paleontologists. A mere twenty million years prior to this is the KT boundary, a major extinction line that saw the demise of the Dinosaurs. With their passing came the rise of the mammals, and a world that looked much like ours today. The location where Ida was discovered is known as the Grube Messel, a World Heritage Site, and 47 million years ago, it was a para-tropical rain forest.

Complete specimens are also extremely useful for scientists, to learn as much as possible about the species. This particular find is missing an arm, and is somewhat crushed, but remains the most complete primate ever discovered, which will yield an enormous amount of information on how Ida and her kind moved, what they ate and what their life cycle would likely have been. Certain changes between this and earlier fossils also helps to uncover information about the evolution of this group, and Ida seems to represent a certain amount of diversification within this group of primates. Scientists believe that this species falls at an early time in the ancestral line that would eventually lead to humans.

Source: /PLoS ONE/

Researchers study apes living at the Trust to learn more about their intellect, behavior, and capacity for communication. Bonobo siblings Panbanisha and Kanzi have a rather advanced capacity for language, able to understand human speech, comprehend abstract concepts, and communicate with humans through a lexigram keyboard. Apes are given the choice as to whether to participate in activities like painting, but the researchers have found that the apes perceive the experience as fulfilling, allowing them to convey thoughts, senses, and memories without the limitations of verbal language.

“The apes’ daily lives are enriched immeasurably by these creative opportunities,” [project overseer Peter] Clay said. “Choosing canvases and colors, and choosing to make small, careful marks or big dramatic ones, these are all within their control.

In the Apes Helping Apes project, the Trust sells the apes’ painting, some created in collaboration with artist Sue Buck, to support ape conservation in the wild. The above painting by Panbanisha is currently up for auction online.

[Great Ape Trust via New Scientist]