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Caley Orr

@caleyorr

Associate Professor | CU School of Medicine & CU Denver Anthropology | Paleoanthropology, Primate Morphology, Teaching Anatomy, Noisy Rock & Roll, Felis catus | Research: ucdenver.academia.edu/CaleyOrr

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18.10.2023
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Latest posts by Caley Orr @caleyorr

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Meet ‘Tous’ — an entirely new genus of mammal we identified. Here’s why it’s so exciting A plantation worker photographed this new genus of mammal in New Guinea, thought to have been dead for 6,000 years.

Meet ‘Tous’ — an entirely new genus of mammal we identified. Here’s why it’s so exciting. 🐾🇮🇩 theconversation.com/meet-tous-an...

05.03.2026 23:23 👍 15 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
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Sulfur isotopes evidence spatial ecology of Late Pleistocene ungulates in southwestern France Understanding prey species spatial behaviour is key to unravelling contemporary hunter-gatherer subsistence and movement patterns. Here, we use sulfur…

"Understanding prey species spatial behaviour is key to unravelling contemporary hunter-gatherer subsistence and movement patterns....These results reveal that Neanderthals hunted three different groups of game who occupied different areas of the landscape."
🧪🦣🏺

04.03.2026 15:38 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Heartbreaking grave goods.

03.03.2026 13:44 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Beware the claims for bottlenecks and the new fashion for admixture/hybridisation! Population structure is harder to model, and messes up some nice simple narratives, but it is fundamental. Important new publication by. Chikhi et al 2026 (link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...)

02.03.2026 09:28 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 2
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Why Don’t Humans Have A Mating Season? An Evolutionary Biologist Explains Humans don’t have a defined mating season like deer or wolves. Here’s how evolution blended biology, culture and social life into year-round intimacy.
01.03.2026 04:16 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Definitely tricky to address a question that spans multiple theoretical levels: the basic mechanics, the biological role (in each ape taxon), and the original adaptive drive at origin (assuming anatomical ape-ness is homologous in all apes).

28.02.2026 20:24 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Feeding in Forest Chimpanzees: Do Food Type and Canopy Location Predict Positional Behavior? Ngogo chimpanzees from Kibale National Park, Uganda use versatile postures, like suspension, more when eating leaves than other foods. However, in the terminal canopy, eating fruit is most associated...

Interesting new paper shows that contrary to expectations, Ngogo chimps are more frequently suspensory when eating leaves than fruit. Why ape anatomical specializations evolved remains a bit unclear.

28.02.2026 03:06 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Humans and Neanderthals interbred — but it was mostly male Neanderthals and female humans who coupled up, study finds A preference for pairings between male Neanderthals and female Homo sapiens may answer the question of why there are "Neanderthal deserts" in human chromosomes.

A new study suggests the “Neanderthal deserts” on the human X chromosome may be from mate preference rather than natural selection acting on deleterious genes. 🧪🏺

26.02.2026 19:03 👍 100 🔁 22 💬 5 📌 5
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How funk music resonated in a time of change, according to CU’s resident funk scholar You may think of funk music as pure fun. But it has a much deeper history and cultural meaning. A CU professor digs into the overlooked history of funk, and why it spoke to changing times.
26.02.2026 16:16 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Rob Dyrdek - Footage- 1990
Rob Dyrdek - Footage- 1990 YouTube video by badger816

I first heard The Wagon (would have been just a single at the time) in this skate video part and was hooked.

21.02.2026 20:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Northern Britain's oldest human remains are of a young female child, DNA analysis reveals The oldest human remains ever found in Northern Britain have been identified as a young female three years after being discovered in a Cumbrian cave. Excavated at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria's G...

Northern Britain's oldest human remains are of a young female child, DNA analysis reveals ⛏️🧬🇬🇧 phys.org/news/2026-02...

13.02.2026 22:00 👍 14 🔁 8 💬 2 📌 1
Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind (Full Album) (1991) 2006 Re-Issue with Bonus Tracks
Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind (Full Album) (1991) 2006 Re-Issue with Bonus Tracks YouTube video by craftberryful

This album released 35 years ago today ignited a still burning Dinosaur Jr obsession. My desert island would be loud with fuzz-drenched guitar solos.

19.02.2026 23:36 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Colorado doctors perform first ‘game-changing’ thumb arthritis surgery in the western U.S. Learn how a new thumb arthritis surgery using a small prosthetic joint offers faster recovery, less pain and improved function for patients.

Orthopedic surgeons on my campus doing some amazing work here. I like that the prosthetic trapeziometacarpal joint is a ball and socket. It's like getting a gibbon thumb.

18.02.2026 02:43 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Biological Anthropology Research Associate 2 in New Haven, Connecticut, 06511 | Other at Yale University Apply for Biological Anthropology Research Associate 2 job with Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, 06511. Other at Yale University

Research Associate job.

18.02.2026 02:36 👍 3 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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A Biologist Explains Why Human Babies Are Born So Helpless. Hint: Evolution Made A Strategic Tradeoff Human newborns arrive remarkably underdeveloped. The reason lies in a deep evolutionary trade-off between big brains, bipedalism and the limits of motherhood.
16.02.2026 02:32 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Why do we care if any of it matters in the grand scheme of things if the Dow is over 50,000?

14.02.2026 05:15 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I remain convinced that drivers who don't use turn signals lack a theory of mind.

12.02.2026 15:33 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Insightful commentary on the new Ileret Homo habilis material by Ian Tattersall: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

11.02.2026 12:01 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Frontiers | A comparative bone surface modification database for revealing the origins and evolution of human carnivory Fossilized trace marks left by our ancestors as they processed animals for food are important clues to the emergence and intensification of human carnivory a...

Our lab has a new open-access paper out today!

We are presenting our database of several hundred experimentally generated bone surface modifications that the Pante lab has been creating, collecting, and scanning over the last 10+ years!

Birds unrelated.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

11.02.2026 16:44 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Many congrats to all our pals up there in Fort Collins! Nice work.

11.02.2026 23:45 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Fantastic! I'm glad that worked out. Happy to help spread the word locally if helpful.

11.02.2026 19:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A graphic reading "AABA Art, Culture and Science Engagement Exhibition" with stylized DNA, skulls, and primate faces.  Art by Michelle Bezanson

A graphic reading "AABA Art, Culture and Science Engagement Exhibition" with stylized DNA, skulls, and primate faces. Art by Michelle Bezanson

The Art/Culture/SciComm Expo returns for the 2026 @bioanth.org meeting! #Science -related #SciArt photography, poetry, needlepoint, painting, sculpture, games, posters about podcasts or local engagement work…all these and more are welcome! Submission deadline is Mar 7.
forms.gle/kk7qCfQGXe6h...

30.01.2026 19:27 👍 7 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 3

Were you and Kate able to identify any institutions here in Denver interested in an outreach session?

11.02.2026 17:58 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Figure 1 from Blasi-Toccacceli et al.  Views of OMO VE3-10063. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a,  proximal portion: A,lateral; B,anterior; C,medial, D,posterior; E,proximal. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a, diaphysis: F,lateral; G,anterior; H,medial;I,posterior. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a, distalportion: J, Anterior; K, posterior; L,distal.Clavicle OMOVE3-10063c: M, Proximal; N, posterior; O, distal; P,a nterior. Scapula OMO-VE  3-10063b: Q, Anterior; R, posterior; S, lateral. Cervical neural  arch OMOVE3-10063d: T, Superior; U, inferior. Cervical  body OMOVE3-10063e: V,Anterior; W,posterior;X,inferior;Y,superior. RibOMOVE3-10063f: Z-superior ; a,inferior. See the detailed description of the individual in the Supplementary Material (Supplementary Text “Description of OMO VE 3-10063”) and Table S1. Abbreviations: Prox.: proximal; Dist.: distal; Med.: medial; Lat.: lateral; Post.: posterior; Ant.: anterior.

Figure 1 from Blasi-Toccacceli et al. Views of OMO VE3-10063. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a, proximal portion: A,lateral; B,anterior; C,medial, D,posterior; E,proximal. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a, diaphysis: F,lateral; G,anterior; H,medial;I,posterior. Humerus OMOVE3-10063a, distalportion: J, Anterior; K, posterior; L,distal.Clavicle OMOVE3-10063c: M, Proximal; N, posterior; O, distal; P,a nterior. Scapula OMO-VE 3-10063b: Q, Anterior; R, posterior; S, lateral. Cervical neural arch OMOVE3-10063d: T, Superior; U, inferior. Cervical body OMOVE3-10063e: V,Anterior; W,posterior;X,inferior;Y,superior. RibOMOVE3-10063f: Z-superior ; a,inferior. See the detailed description of the individual in the Supplementary Material (Supplementary Text “Description of OMO VE 3-10063”) and Table S1. Abbreviations: Prox.: proximal; Dist.: distal; Med.: medial; Lat.: lateral; Post.: posterior; Ant.: anterior.

Preprint describing an interesting 1.84 million-year-old partial hominin skeleton (mostly shoulder) from the Shungura Formation in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, no craniodental remains to confirm taxon, but it shows some derived features linking it to genus Homo.
paleo.peercommunityin.org/articles/rec...

11.02.2026 17:46 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

Me too. I really miss working there.

09.02.2026 13:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Great analytical work done on the specimen by our collaborator Matteo Romandini.

09.02.2026 04:41 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

A Mesolithic superb owl (Bubo bubo) from a beautiful site our crew excavated in northwestern Italy back in 2018.
Citation if you're interested to know more:

09.02.2026 04:34 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Oh damn. Brilliant. Didn't even occur to me.

09.02.2026 04:27 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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The shocking truth behind historic anatomical art For centuries, real dead bodies inspired great artists and science illustrators alike. A new exhibition reveals the dark stories behind these cadavers – and how they were acquired.
05.02.2026 03:51 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0