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Ancestral Tarsiers Had Tri-color Vision

The prevailing hypothesis concerning the evolution of the anthropoid visual system is that ancestral haplorhines were nocturnal. Later their descendants invaded a diurnal niche, with the evolution of highly acute, three-color vision. Now, a new study (Melin et al. 2013) challenges this view, suggesting instead that stem haplorhines already possessed three-color vision before they move into a fully diurnal niche.

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Who’s in Charge – Leadership in Dolphins

Within stable groups, leadership roles often go to dominant or experienced individuals. For example, elephant social groups are lead by a matriarch with years of experience and knowledge that presumably increases the survival of her followers. Likewise, packs of wolves are lead by a dominant alpha pair; subordinates are essentially forced to follow their lead.

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Bat Radiations

A new study involving bat skulls, bite force measurements and scat samples collected by an international team of evolutionary biologists is helping to solve a nagging question of evolution: Why some groups of animals develop scores of different species over time while others evolve only a few. Their findings appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

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Tarsiers — Communication in the Ultrasound

It is difficult for humans to imagine that a world of color and sound exists outside of the one that we can perceive, but for some organisms that world is a reality. Usually these animals aren’t ones that we can readily relate to; bats and dolphins are two examples that both possess the ability to hear and emit high-frequency sounds. Continue reading Tarsiers — Communication in the Ultrasound