Climbing behaviors of tree-dwelling mammals unlock insights on early primate evolution

Researchers have shed new light on the features that enable tree-dwelling mammals to move effectively through their environments, providing insights into the evolution of the distinct upright postures seen in primates. The study, published in eLife, is the first to compare upward and downward climbing behaviors across a broad range of tree-dwelling (arboreal) mammal species. eLife's editors describe the work as valuable, with convincing analyses that will be of interest to biologists studying animal movement.