Origin Stories

What is it like to be responsible for the safekeeping of the ancestors of everyone in the world? In this episode, we travel to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see our most famous fossil relative – Lucy – and meet Yared Assefa, the person who takes care of her and all of our Ethiopian fossil ancestors and relatives. 

If you love fossils, you won't want to miss this episode!

Special thanks

Thanks to Yared Assefa, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, and Dr. Mulugeta Feseha, who hosted The Leakey Foundation at the National Museum of Ethiopia.

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Links to learn more

President Obama's speech to the African Union
Lucy: A marvelous specimen
Top ten human evolution discoveries in Ethiopia
Rare 3.8 million-year-old fossil skull recasts origins of iconic Lucy 
Ethiopia is top choice for the cradle of Homo sapiens

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Funding provided by the Foundation has made many of the fossil hominin discoveries in Ethiopia possible. In addition, Our Baldwin Fellowship program has been building scientific capacity in Ethiopia and other countries since 1978. We also have a new program called the Francis H. Brown African Scholarship Fund that provides up to $25,000 for East African students or early career researchers in botany and geology. Learn about all of our grant programs at leakeyfoundation.org/grants

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's online series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Feed your brain with Lunch Break Science every third Thursday at 11 am Pacific on Facebook, YouTube, and leakeyfoundation.org/live.

Credits

Host and Producer: Meredith Johnson
Editor: Audrey Quinn
Theme Music: Henry Nagle

Additional Music:

Lee Rosevere "Tech Toys" and music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors

Origin Stories is made possible by support from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and donors like you!

Travel through 50,000 years of human history following clues hidden inside beads made from ostrich eggshells. In this episode, researchers Jennifer Miller and Yiming Wang share how these tiny artifacts reveal a sweeping story of ancient social networks, cultural connections, and human adaptability.

Support the show

Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched!

>>>> Please click here to make a one-time or monthly donation. 

Guests

• Dr. Jennifer Miller
• Dr. Yiming Wang

Links to learn more

• Ostrich eggshell beads reveal 50,000-year-old social network in Africa (open access)
• An ancient social safety net in Africa was built on beads
• Are these snail shells the world's oldest known beads?
• Zambezi basin (Wikipedia)
• Paleoclimatology info and interactive paleoclimate map (National Centers for Environmental Education

Sponsors and credits

This episode was generously sponsored by Leakey Foundation Fellow Eddie Kislinger in honor of his wife, jewelry designer Cathy Waterman. Her designs are inspired by nature and influenced by her study of and connection with ancient human history. We are grateful to them for making this episode possible.

Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund, and our listener-supporters.

Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

2023 was another exciting year in human origins research! Fossil discoveries and long-term primate studies expanded our understanding of what makes us human. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.

Help us make more episodes! All tax-deductible donations to Origin Stories will be quadruple-matched!

>>>> Please click here to make a one-time or monthly donation. 

Guests

• Briana Pobiner
• Emma Finestone
• Nasser Malit 
• Risa Luther

Links to learn more

• Top 13 Discoveries in Human Evolution, 2023 Edition
• Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125,000 years ago: Implications for Neanderthal behavior (open-access research paper)
• Neanderthals lived in groups big enough to eat giant elephants
• Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago (open-access research paper
• Early Homo erectus lived at high altitudes and produced both Oldowan and Acheulean tools (open-access research paper)
• The surprising toolbox of the early Homo erectus
• Demographic and hormonal evidence for menopause in wild chimpanzees (open-access research paper)
• Wild chimpanzees experience menopause
• Chimpanzee menopause revealed ft. Melissa Emery Thompson (Lunch Break Science on YouTube)

Sponsors and credits

Origin Stories is sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation,  and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. 

Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

Sibling relationships can include everything from love and support–to tension, competition, and conflict. They might also play a fundamental role in the evolution of our species. In the final installment of our three-part series on family relationships, researchers Karen Kramer, Cat Hobaiter, and Rachna Reddy explore surprising new science about the role of siblings in primate and human evolution.

Links to learn more:

• Why are there so many humans?
• Children and social learning
• Karen Kramer
• Cat Hobaiter
• Rachna Reddy

Support Origin Stories and help us explore human evolution one story at a time.

Your tax-deductible gift makes our show possible. Click here to donate!

Credits:

This episode was produced by Leo Hornak. Sound design and production by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors:

Dana LaJoie and Bill Richards, Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

Humans invest enormous amounts of time and energy into bringing up our babies. This unique investment is a fundamental part of what it means to be human. In this episode, the first in a three-part series on family relationships, researchers Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Stacy Rosenbaum, and Amy Scott explore how our species' approach to motherhood may hold the key to some of the most important traits that set us apart from other mammals. 

Links to learn more:

• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Childrearing in Evolution (video)
• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - Mothers and Others (article)
• Citrona Walnut Farm
• Grantee Spotlight: Amy Scott
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorilla group structure
• Stacey Rosenbaum - Gorillas, humans, and early life adversity
• The Birth Bliss Academy

Support Origin Stories

Origin Stories needs your support. Your donation helps bring the untold stories and latest research in human evolution to thousands of curious minds worldwide. Your gift, no matter the amount, makes a big difference! Click here to support the show.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Leo Hornak. Sound design by Ray Pang. Host and executive producer, Meredith Johnson. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Recording assistance Catherine Monahon. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sponsors:

Dana LaJoie and Bill Richards, Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.

How did climate change impact ancient human behavior? This is one of the questions Justin Pargeter and his team are investigating at a site called Boomplaas Cave in South Africa. This site has a unique record of human presence over the past 80,000 years or so. Importantly, the site is helping researchers piece together the story of how humans adapted to rapidly shifting climates in the past.

Origin Stories producer Ray Pang interviews Leakey Foundation grantee Justin Pargeter, an archaeologist and professor at NYU about his work at the site, the history and importance of the cave, and why African-led research is critical for the future of science.

Links to learn more:

• Justin Pargeter, NYU
• Drone tour of the Boomplaas Cave area
• Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Group (HOMER)
• Joan Cogswell Donner Field School Scholarship
• Boomplaas Cave (Wikipedia)
• New ages from Boomplaas Cave, South Africa, provide
  increased resolution on late/terminal Pleistocene human
  behavioural variability

Support Origin Stories

Origin Stories needs your support. Your donation helps bring the untold stories and latest research in human evolution to thousands of curious minds worldwide. Your gift, no matter the amount, makes a big difference! Click here to support the show.

Credits:

This episode was produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle, additional music by Lee Roservere.

This special episode takes you inside the world of archaeology students at Boomplaas Cave, one of South Africa’s flagship human evolution research sites. Led by Dr. Justin Pargeter, the students chronicle their field school journey through personal audio diaries, offering a candid look at the joys, thrills, and challenges of archaeological fieldwork.

Thanks to Justin Pargeter, Monique Niekerk, Asi Ntsodwa, Bacara Spruit, and all the students at Boomplaas Cave field school.

Learn more:

• Justin Pargeter, NYU
• Drone tour of the Boomplaas Cave area
• Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Group (HOMER)
• Joan Cogswell Donner Field School Scholarship
• Boomplaas Cave (Wikipedia)
• New ages from Boomplaas Cave, South Africa, provide
  increased resolution on late/terminal Pleistocene human
  behavioural variability

Credits:

Produced by Ray Pang, Meredith Johnson, and Taylor Cook. Sound design by Ray Pang. Edited by Audrey Quinn

Support the show:

Love Origin Stories? Here's your chance to double the impact! Every dollar you donate helps us explore and explain our shared human origins, and right now, every donation will be matched! Click here to donate!

In this episode, we explore the fascinating tale of the Hobbit, an unexpected fossil find that shook the world's understanding of human evolution. Join researcher Matt Tocheri as he shares how this tiny hominin revolutionized the human story and transformed his life. 

Links:

From the Field: Matt Tocheri
Homo floresiensis
Can rat bones solve an island mystery?

Love Origin Stories? Here's your chance to double the impact! Every dollar you donate helps us explore and explain our shared human origins, and right now, every donation will be matched! Click here to donate!

Dr. Kira Westaway is part of an international research team working to solve the mystery of Gigantopithecus, the largest ape that ever walked the earth. In this episode, we explore how this massive primate lived, why it disappeared, and what it can tell us about extinctions happening now. 

Learn more:

• Where Giants Roamed

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Click here to support this show and the science we talk about. Your donation will be matched by Jeanne Newman.

This episode was generously sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. 

Origin Stories is produced and sound designed by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

How do human bodies use energy? In this episode, Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Herman Pontzer shares groundbreaking research that upends our understanding of metabolism, calories, and the history of our species. 

Origin Stories is hosted by Meredith Johnson, produced and sound designed by Ray Pang, and edited by Audrey Quinn.

Support this show and the science we talk about. leakeyfoundation.org/donate 

Links:

Burn by Herman Pontzer, PhD

Pontzer Lab

The energetics of uniquely human subsistence strategies

2022 was another exciting year in human origins research! New fossil discoveries and ancient DNA research expanded our understanding of the past. We learned something surprising about the evolution of human speech, and new methodologies and showed promising potential to improve the future of medicine. In this episode, four Leakey Foundation scientists shared their favorite human evolution discoveries from the past year.

Our guests

• Carol Ward, University of Missouri
• Sofia Samper Carro, Australian National University
• Kevin Hatala, Chatham University
• Megan Henriquez, City University of New York

Links to learn more

• Evolutionary loss of complexity in human vocal anatomy as an adaptation for speech
• When less is more in the evolution of language
• The face of the first European found in Atapuerca
• Europe's oldest fossil named after Pink Floyd
• Meet the first Neanderthal family
• Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals
• Population genetics study of Strongyloides fuelleborni 

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human origins research and outreach.

Want to support the show? Your donation will be matched by Leakey Foundation President Jeanne Newman who is matching up to $5,000 in gifts from Origin Stories listeners. Every dollar helps! leakeyfoundation.org/originstories23

Sponsors and credits

This episode was generously sponsored by Diana McSherry and Pat Poe. Origin Stories is also sponsored by Jeanne Newman, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Camilla and George Smith, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund. Thanks as well to the Benevity Community Impact Fund for their support of the show.

Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

Join us for these events

February 8, 6 pm Pacific -  Where is the love?: Secrets of Chimpanzee Relationships - click to register

February 16, 11 am Pacific - Lunch Break Science with Tom Plummer - click to watch

We've been hard at work on a new season of stories about how we became human. Origin Stories returns on January 31 with monthly episodes!

Survey and Discovering Us giveaway

Click here to take our short audience survey, and you could win one of three free copies of Discovering Us: 50 Great Discoveries in Human Origins by Evan Hadingham.

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and educational outreach.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

leakeyfoundation.org/donate 

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream on the first and third Thursdays of every month.

leakeyfoundation.org/live

This episode was produced and sound designed by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

In this episode, we talk with Evan Hadingham, senior science editor for the PBS program NOVA. His new book, Discovering Us: 50 Great Discoveries in Human Origins, highlights the thrilling fossil finds, groundbreaking primate behavior observations, and important scientific work of Leakey Foundation researchers. Want to win your own copy of the book? Take our listener survey for a chance to win one of three giveaway copies! Discovering Us is also available for sale anywhere you buy books, but when you buy it through bookshop.org, 10% of the proceeds go to support our work. Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Support this show and the science we talk about. Your donations will be matched by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

leakeyfoundation.org/donate 

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream on the first and third Thursday of every month.

leakeyfoundation.org/live

This episode was produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.

2021 was a big year in science! Fossil discoveries introduced new relatives to our family tree, new findings added fascinating twists to the human story, and breakthroughs in research methods opened new worlds to explore. In this episode, five scientists discuss their favorite human origins discoveries of 2021.

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Our guests:

Scott A. Williams, New York University
Jessica Thompson, Yale University
Giulia Gallo, University of California at Davis
Fernando Villanea, University of Colorado at Boulder
Erin Kane, Boston University

Read more about their top discoveries:

Dragon Man

Late Middle Pleistocene Harbin cranium represents a new Homo species 

Stunning ‘Dragon Man' skull may be an elusive Denisovan—or a new species of human

'Dragon man' claimed as new species of ancient human but doubts remain 

SedaDNA

Unearthing Neanderthal population history using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from cave sediments

Bacho Kiro

Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Early Homo sapiens groups in Europe faced subarctic climates

Like Neanderthals, Early Humans Endured a Frigid Europe

White Sands footprints

Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum

Ancient Footprints Push Back Date of Human Arrival in the Americas

National Park Services White Sands Website

Camera trap research on Dryas monkeys

A natural history of Chlorocebus dryas from camera traps in Lomami National Park and its buffer zone, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with notes on the species status of Cercopithecus salongo 

Using local knowledge and camera traps to investigate occurrence and habitat preference of an Endangered primate: the endemic dryas monkey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo-

Picture Perfect: Camera Traps Find Endangered Dryas Monkeys 

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

This month, thanks to Jorge and Ann Leis and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, all donations will be quadruple-matched. Click here to make a donation!

Credits

This episode was hosted and produced by Meredith Johnson and Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. 

Music by Henry Nagle and Lee Roservere. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Please send us your questions!

Have a question about human evolution? Something you've always wondered about? We will find a scientist to answer it on a special episode of Origin Stories!

There are three ways to submit your question:

Leave a voicemail at +1(707)788-8582

Visit speakpipe.com/originstories and leave a message

Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at originstories@leakeyfoundation.org

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream live on the first and third Thursdays of every month. Sign up for event reminders and watch past episodes at leakeyfoundation.org/live

As a young girl, Biruté Mary Galdikas dreamed of going to the forests of Southeast Asia to study the least-known of all the great apes, the elusive orangutan. People told her it would be impossible. But, in 1971, she traveled to Borneo and started what is now the longest ongoing study of orangutans in the history of science. This is her story.

She was the third in the group of now world-famous scientists known as the Trimates—Jane Goodall in Tanzania, Dian Fossey in Rwanda, and Biruté Mary Galdikas in Borneo. The Trimates were the first women to establish long-term studies of great apes in the wild. They were all mentored by Louis Leakey.

Their work formed the basis of everything science now knows about chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. And they've inspired generations of researchers and conservationists to follow in their footsteps.

Today's episode celebrates Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas and her half-century of field research and orangutan conservation work.

About our guest

Dr. Galdikas is the founder and president of Orangutan Foundation International. She's a research professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Professor Extraordinaire at the Universitas Nasional in Jakarta. She's a 19-time Leakey Foundation grantee, and she was one of Louis Leakey's last proteges in his lifetime.

Links

• Orangutan Foundation International
• Ways to get involved
• Learn about palm oil

Credits

Ray Pang produced this episode. Sound design by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Meredith Johnson is the host and executive producer of Origin Stories. Thanks to Talain Blanchon for audio of Dr. Galdikas in the field and for recording our interview with Dr. Galdikas in his studio. And special thanks to Marcus Foley and Emily Patton for all their help.

Archival lecture audio is from The Leakey Foundation archive.

Music by Henry Nagle and Lee Roservere.

Please send us your questions!

Have a question about human evolution? Something you've always wondered about? We will find a scientist to answer it on a special episode of Origin Stories!

There are three ways to submit your question:

Leave a voicemail at +1(707)788-8582

Visit speakpipe.com/originstories and leave a message

Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at originstories@leakeyfoundation.org

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

Thanks to Jeanne Newman and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, all donations to support the podcast will be quadruple-matched. Visit leakeyfoundation.org/donate and use the notes field to let us know your donation is for Origin Stories.

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream live on the first and third Thursdays of every month. Sign up for event reminders and watch past episodes at leakeyfoundation.org/live

Scientists agree that dogs evolved from wolves, but exactly how and when that happened is hotly contested. In this episode, Origin Stories contributor Neil Sandell examines the evolution of the relationship between dogs and humans, and explores the journey from wolf to dog.

This story was originally produced for the CBC program IDEAS. 

Click here for a transcript of this episode.

Guests in this episode: (in order of appearance)

Angela Perri is an archaeologist at Durham University, U.K.

Sebastian Dicenaire is a French playwright and audio producer living in Brussels

Greger Larson is director of the Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network at the University of Oxford, U.K.

Kathryn Lord is an evolutionary biologist at the Karlsson Lab of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Broad Institute.

Mietje Germonpré is a palaeontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Sarah Marshall-Pescini is a behavioural scientist at the Wolf Science Center in Austria, and the Domestication Lab at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna.

Friederike Range is a biologist and co-founder of the Wolf Science Center. She is a research professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna.

Giulia Cimarelli is a biologist at the Wolf Science Center, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Domestication Lab at University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. 

Credits

This episode was produced by Neil Sandell. Find him on Twitter.

Send us your questions!

Have a question about human evolution? Something you've always wondered about? We will find a scientist to answer it on a special episode of Origin Stories!

There are three ways to submit your question:

• Leave a voicemail at (707) 788-8582
• Visit speakpipe.com/originstories and leave a message
• Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at originstories@leakeyfoundation.org

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

All donations to support the podcast will be quadruple-matched thanks to Jeanne Newman and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Visit leakeyfoundation.org/donate and use the notes field to let us know your donation is in support of Origin Stories.

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream live on the first and third Thursdays of every month. Sign up for event reminders and watch past episodes at leakeyfoundation.org/live

Learn about the evolution of our extraordinary ability to cool ourselves down. Biological anthropologist Andrew Best discusses the past, present, and future of sweat in this special bonus episode.

About our guest

Dr. Andrew Best is a biological anthropologist at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts who studies metabolism, endurance, and the evolution of sweat. Visit his website to learn more about him and his research.

Click here for a one-minute video about his Leakey Foundation-supported research project on the evolution of sweat glands.

Episode Transcript

• Google Doc Transcript
• PDF Transcript

Links to more sweaty science 

• The science of sweat
• Giving sweat the respect it deserves 
• The weird science of how sweat attracts 

Open access research papers of interest

• Human Locomotion and Heat Loss: An Evolutionary Perspective
• Repeated mutation of a developmental enhancer
  contributed to human thermoregulatory evolution

Credits

This episode was produced by Ray Pang. To keep up with and learn more about his work, follow Ray at @PangRay on Twitter. 

Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Meredith Johnson is the host and executive producer of Origin Stories.

Music by Henry Nagle and Lee Roservere.

Send us your questions!

Have a question about human evolution? Something you've always wondered about? We will find a scientist to answer it on a special episode of Origin Stories!

There are three ways to submit your question:

• Leave a voicemail at +1(707) 788-8582
• Visit speakpipe.com/originstories and leave a message
• Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at originstories@leakeyfoundation.org

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

All donations to support the podcast will be quadruple-matched thanks to Jeanne Newman and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Visit leakeyfoundation.org/donate and use the notes field to let us know your donation is in support of Origin Stories.

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream live on the first and third Thursdays of every month. Sign up for event reminders and watch past episodes at leakeyfoundation.org/live!

Producer and scientist Kevin McLean travels to an island off the coast of Panama where researchers have found an isolated group of monkeys with a creative approach to surviving in a challenging environment.

Links

These tiny monkeys have entered their Stone Age with a bang

First report of habitual stone tool use by Cebus monkeys

Habitual Stone-Tool Aided Extractive Foraging in White-Faced Capuchins, Cebus Capucinus

Video of capuchins using tools

Research presentation on social learning by Leakey Foundation grantee Brendan Barrett

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies

Claudio Montezo Moreno's biodiversity research website

Send us your questions!

Have a question about human evolution? Something you've always wondered about? We will find a scientist to answer it on a special episode of Origin Stories!

There are three ways to submit your question:

• Leave a voicemail at (707) 788-8582
• Visit speakpipe.com/originstories and leave a message
• Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to us at originstories@leakeyfoundation.org

The Leakey Foundation

Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach.

All donations to support the podcast will be quadruple-matched thanks to Jeanne Newman and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Visit leakeyfoundation.org/donate and use the notes field to let us know your donation is in support of Origin Stories.

Lunch Break Science

Lunch Break Science is The Leakey Foundation's web series featuring short talks and interviews with Leakey Foundation grantees. Episodes stream live on the first and third Thursdays of every month. Sign up for event reminders and watch past episodes at leakeyfoundation.org/live