Most readers have assumed that the Lorax was a character born in Theodor Seuss Geisel’s extraordinary mind. But a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on 23 July suggests that Geisel was inspired by a monkey ?that lives across West and East Africa. Image: Eric Kilby
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A trail of ancient bread crumbs has helped archaeologists put the origins of bread making in the Stone Age. The find provides the first direct evidence that humans were baking with wheat and oats thousands of years before they began farming the cereals. Image: Alexis Pantos
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Hominins reached Asia at least 2.1 million years ago, researchers assert in an 11 July Nature paper. Stone tools they found in central China represent the earliest known evidence of humans or their ancient relatives living outside Africa. Image: Prof. Zhaoyu Zhu
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A vast population of indigenous domestic dogs once roamed the Americas, concludes one of the largest studies yet of ancient dog DNA, published in Science on 5 July. Today, almost nothing remains of this dog family, apart from a bizarre transmissible cancer. Image: edenpictures
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Another non-human primate has entered the Stone Age – the fourth type known to have done so. One population of white-faced capuchins living in Panama routinely use stones to smash open nuts and shellfish. Image: Tony Nastase Photography
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