HEAS members So Jung Han and Martin Kuhlwilm publish study of the evolutionary history of bonobos
More On Article
- HEAS Members awarded FWF grant for project on Geochemical ENhancEment of Ancient DNA from SedImentS
- HEAS Seed Grants February 2025 Round
- OeAW Early Career Researchers Visit the UBB
- HEAS Member Magdalena Blanz receives an FWF Erwin Schrödinger Grant to research compound-specific stable isotope ratios
- Absolute dating of Bronze Age urn burials in the central Balkans: Cemeteries of copper-producing societies in eastern Serbia
In a new study in Current Biology, HEAS members So Jung Han and Martin Kuhlwilm together with an international team, improve our understanding of bonobos. Bonobos are, together with chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, but the genetic structure of their population was so far not well understood. They show that three genetically distinct bonobo groups of inferred Central, Western and Far-Western geographic origin exist within the bonobo range. Their split times are up to ~145,000 years ago, which similar to that of some chimpanzee subspecies. This highlights the need of attention to bonobo substructure, which is fundamental both to understand their evolutionary past and preserve their future.