HUMANS
Perspectives On Our Evolution From World Experts
A new book, JUST OUT.
(Click on the cover to find out more).
TIMEremix
Short—free-style—ESSAYS about HUMANS, EVOLUTION, and this LIFE.
RESEARCH
I study the key adaptations defining different stages of ape and human evolution (i.e., hominoid evolution). I pay special attention to the process leading and following the split between humans and apes (i.e., “non-human hominoids”). Hylobatids (gibbons and siamangs), orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans constitute a relict of a once highly diversified group. During the Miocene (~23 to 5.3 million years ago, Ma) in Africa, Europe, and Asia, there was a greater diversity of apes that did not resemble or move around like any primates alive today. It is from Miocene apes that modern apes and hominins (the human lineage) evolved. Thus, only by studying the evolution of fossil apes and their environment in combination with available early hominins can we provide realistic models of ape and human evolution and better understand human origins.
My research seeks to address these issues through several avenues of investigation:
- Paleontological fieldwork to recover new fossil apes and humans
- Novel and traditional morphometric techniques to quantitatively characterize three-dimensional morphologies
- Phylogenetic comparative methods and evolutionary modeling to elucidate the tempo and mode of ape and human evolution
- Implementing biological data from living primates (e.g., locomotor behavior, molecular phylogenetics) in paleobiological inferences
- Stopping from time to time to think: Which are the right questions that we should be asking?
Follow my research
weB.LOG
My research journal. It currently contains a couple of summaries/perspectives about my articles. More in the future!
IN THE MEDIA!
Clip about my research on the evolution of the human hand
It’s part of the documentary “The Secret History of our Evolution” by Pierre-François Gaudry. Watch the entire documentary, it’s fascinating.
Video summary about my research on apes and human evolution
Earth was once a planet of the apes…
CONTACT
My home base is the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, where I co-direct the AMNH Biological Anthropology Laboratory
Sergio Almécija | Senior Research Scientist | Division of Anthropology | American Museum of Natural History | Central Park West at 79th Street. New York, NY 10024 | Email
ABOUT
I am a researcher and writer. It’s just a byproduct of my curiosity. I research to find answers to some of my questions. Occasionally, the process involves going out there into the field (or a museum) to gather new data. It often involves reading and writing about what I don’t know. It forces me to keep learning and to organize and connect my ideas with those of others. I strive to add my piece to the puzzle.
