Orangutan News and Research

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Tracing Monkeypox virus: Leveraging ancient orangutan DNA to investigate the 1965 Rotterdam Zoo outbreak

Ancient DNA analysis of museum-preserved orangutan teeth reveals the cause of the 1965 zoo outbreak in the Netherlands as monkeypox virus (MPXV) infections, demonstrating the power of museomic techniques in tracing historic viral transmissions.

12 Mar 2024

Diagnosis of rare inherited metabolic condition in a Sumatran orangutan

Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine have diagnosed a Sumatran Orangutan at the Indianapolis Zoo with a rare genetic disease called Alkaptonuria.

27 Jul 2023

Research explores whether the eye influenced the development of language

Eyes provide us with most information about the surrounding world. Yet, the eye, especially that of a human, enables not only to receive stimuli but also to transfer this information outside.

9 Jan 2023

What are the implications of orangutan translocation risks in the COVID-19 era?

Can orangutan translocation pose infectious disease transmission and species conservation threats?

13 Dec 2021

Adoption of a robust approach to minimize disease transmission between humans and wild animals

The threat of disease transmission from conservationists moving wild animals between habitats or back into the wild needs to be urgently assessed to minimize risk.

25 Nov 2021

Full assembly of human chromosome 8 reveals novel genes, disease risks

The full assembly of human chromosome 8 is reported this week in Nature. While on the outside this chromosome looks typical, being neither short nor long or distinctive, its DNA content and arrangement are of interest in primate and human evolution, in several immune and developmental disorders, and in chromosome sequencing structure and function generally.

8 Apr 2021

Lions and tigers and anteaters? US scientists scan the menagerie for COVID

As COVID-19 cases surge in the U.S., one Texas veterinarian has been quietly tracking the spread of the disease — not in people, but in their pets.

4 Nov 2020

Researchers decipher evolution of the Y chromosome in great apes

New analysis of the DNA sequence of the male-specific Y chromosomes from all living species of the great ape family helps to clarify our understanding of how this enigmatic chromosome evolved.

6 Oct 2020

Genomic analysis reveals vulnerability of many animal species to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Humans are not the only species facing a potential threat from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.

21 Aug 2020

Chimpanzee communication provides clues to human speech-rhythm evolution

One of the most promising theories for the evolution of human speech has finally received support from chimpanzee communication, in a study conducted by a group of researchers led by the University of Warwick.

27 May 2020

New book encompasses the vast history of reproduction

A new book is the first to encompass the vast history of how living things procreate, from the banks of the ancient Nile to the fertility clinics of today.

7 Dec 2018

Speed and error rate of DNA synthesis influenced by DNA structure

The speed and error rate of DNA synthesis is influenced by the three-dimensional structure of the DNA. Using "third-generation" genome-wide DNA sequencing data, a team of researchers from Penn State and the Czech Academy of Sciences showed that sequences with the potential to form unusual DNA conformations, which are frequently associated with cancer and neurological diseases, can in fact slow down or speed up the DNA synthesis process and cause more or fewer sequencing errors.

14 Nov 2018

Smoke from fires may pose threat to orangutans, finds study

Orangutans, already critically endangered due to habitat loss from logging and large-scale farming, may face another threat in the form of smoke from natural and human-caused fires, a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study finds.

15 May 2018

Study sheds new light on extent of lethal rat lungworm's geographic range in Florida

University of Florida researchers have found rat lungworm, a parasitic nematode that can cause meningitis in humans and animals, in five Florida counties.

28 Jun 2017

Biomarkers in the teeth of orangutans provide new understanding of human breast-feeding evolution

Biomarkers in the teeth of wild orangutans indicate nursing patterns related to food fluctuations in their habitats, which can help guide understanding of breast-feeding evolution in humans, according to a study published today in Science Advances.

17 May 2017

Study shows link between upright locomotion and spinal health

A Simon Fraser University researcher has uncovered what may be the first quantified evidence demonstrating a relationship between upright locomotion and spinal health.

28 Apr 2015

Research provides better understanding of interplay between genomes of malaria parasites, humans

For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another. Now, University of Pennsylvania geneticists, in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have developed a new picture of one way that the human genome has fought back.

10 Jun 2011

Jumping elements in primates may have important consequences for studies of human genetic diseases

The density of transposable (jumping) elements between sex chromosomes in primates may have important consequences for the studies of human genetic diseases, say Penn State University researchers.

30 Apr 2010

Chembio Diagnostics to supply over 2000 PrimaTB STAT-PAK tuberculosis testing kits

Chembio Diagnostics, Inc., which develops, manufactures, markets and licenses point-of-care diagnostic tests, has agreed to provide over 2,000 PrimaTB STAT-PAK tuberculosis (TB) testing kits which are approved for use in Macaques to the Orangutan Conservancy (OC) to support the organization's continued drive to raise the level of veterinary care at orangutan rehabilitation centers.

19 Oct 2009

Volcanoes in the genome, blowing out pieces of DNA

Roughly 10 million years ago, a major genetic change occurred in a common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.

11 Feb 2009