Thomas Püschel

Early primates evolved in cold, seasonal climates, not warm tropical forests - new research by our Associate Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology, Dr Thomas Püschel, and collaborators ‪@uniofreading.bsky.social‬ challenges our assumptions about where primates originated: ‪https://shorturl.at/3AnbC

06.08.2025 18:02 — 👍 1    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Fossil evidence reveals early primates evolved in cold climates, not tropical forests Primates—the group of animals that includes monkeys, apes and humans—first evolved in cold, seasonal climates around 66 million years ago, not in the warm tropical forests scientists previously believed.

Fossil and environmental data indicate that early primates evolved in cold, seasonal climates in North America, challenging the long-standing view that they originated in tropical forests. doi.org/g9v72t

05.08.2025 15:40 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

The radiation and geographic expansion of primates through diverse climates | PNAS One of the most influential hypotheses about primate evolution postulates that their origin, radiation, and major dispersals were associated with e...

🌍❄️ New paper out! Early primates didn’t just thrive in tropical forests, they evolved and dispersed through cold & temperate climates 🐒🧊
Enjoyed being part of this collaboration led by @avaria_jorge! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

06.08.2025 07:37 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Uploaded two preprints with fantastic colleagues: one on handedness, the other on sexual dimorphism, both tackling different aspects of human evolution 🧠💪
👉 Handedness: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 Dimorphism: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

23.06.2025 09:26 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

A Dryopithecine Talus From Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès‐Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula): Morphometric Affinities and Evolutionary Implications for Hominoid Locomotion Objectives The functional interpretation of postcranial remains of Middle Miocene great apes from Europe (dryopithecines) suggests a combination of quadrupedalism and orthograde behaviors without mo...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Thrilled to have been part of this fantastic collaboration: A Dryopithecine Talus From Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès‐Penedès Basin); check out our new paper! 🦴

10.04.2025 08:13 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A Dryopithecine Talus From Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès‐Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula): Morphometric Affinities and Evolutionary Implications for Hominoid Locomotion Objectives The functional interpretation of postcranial remains of Middle Miocene great apes from Europe (dryopithecines) suggests a combination of quadrupedalism and orthograde behaviors without mo.....

New paper alert! 🦧
Described a new dryopithecine talus from the Vallès-Penedès basin to inform about crown hominoid locomotor evolution 👇
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa...
with Shubham Pal, @tpuschel.bsky.social , @a-urciuoli.bsky.social , Víctor Vinuesa, Josep M. Robles, Sergio Almécija and David M. Alba

09.04.2025 14:41 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Saying what is better when comparing apples and oranges " Models are not literal representations of reality but provide simplifications or substitutes of the events, scenarios or behaviours that are being studied or predicted. All models make...

With @tpuschel.bsky.social we wrote this text on #FEA models in #biomechanics: Models aren’t reality, just tools for specific questions. Comparing different models outside their context? Like apples & oranges. 📓Read more 👇

24.02.2025 15:22 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

How early human brains expanded over time New research challenges old assumptions about how the human brain evolved, revealing a more complex, gradual pattern of growth within species.

I was recently interviewed by @bigthink.com in connection to our research on brain size evolution 🧠 bigthink.com/the-past/how...

19.02.2025 13:11 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Vol. 2025 No. 1 In Progress (2025): PaleoAnthropology | PaleoAnthropology

The latest issue of PaleoAnthropology is now out! #openaccess
Volume 2025, Issue 1, In Progress

Read Here: paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.php/paleo/issue/view/91

#paleoanthropology #humanevolution #archaeology

27.01.2025 09:36 — 👍 39    🔁 21    💬 1    📌 1

Nice visualisation of our latest paper in a new French scientific magazine 🧠

27.01.2025 17:44 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Shrinking trees and tuskless elephants: the strange ways species are adapting to humans

06.01.2025 09:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

a large flock of birds are flying in a cloudy sky ALT: a large flock of birds are flying in a cloudy sky

#SciAdvent Dec11 🐦‍⬛🌲🐦‍⬛🌲🐦‍⬛
How do the stunning shapes of starling #murmurations happen? How does each bird know what to do? By 3D-tracking starling flocks and comparing their movements with computer simulations 👩‍💻, researchers found out that birds only keep track of about 7 other closest birds! (1/2)

11.12.2024 08:18 — 👍 9    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 2

Scientists, academics, researchers: We’re excited to share that @altmetric.com is now tracking mentions of your research on Bluesky! 🧪

03.12.2024 14:10 — 👍 29987    🔁 5095    💬 466    📌 281

Hominin brain size increase has emerged from within-species encephalization | PNAS The fact that rapid brain size increase was clearly a key aspect of human evolution has prompted many studies focusing on this phenomenon, and many...

In our latest paper we argue that brain expansion 🧠 in hominins was primarily driven by within-species dynamics, with an accelerating trend in recent lineages! 📈

Available here 👉🏼 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

@oxford-anthro.bsky.social

03.12.2024 10:40 — 👍 16    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 0

Just thought that the best way to kick off with this new account would be to post a few pictures from the incredible Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, where I’m fortunate to do fieldwork every year 🐘🇲🇿

01.12.2024 18:43 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0