New dissemination project to find anatomic similarities between apes and humans

Researchers from institutions from around the world, the University of Barcelona being one of those, have taken part in the Visible Ape Project(VAP), a science communication initiative and research project funded by the National Science Foundation (United States) and designed to show the remarkable similarities in the anatomy of humans and apes, our closest living relatives -at risk of extinction.

The VAP website allows users to learn and interact and it is aimed at researchers, teachers, students and the general public. Researchers say that “people will not only become more aware of our fascinating closest relatives that are facing growing problems for their survival, but also of evidence showing that we share a common ancestor, and therefore of what makes humans unique”.

VAP is a platform to compare the anatomical structures between different species of apes through a digital collection of high-quality anatomical illustrations and dissection photographs, CT scans of the whole body and brain MRIs of adult, young and infant apes. The data gathering allowed researchers to reproduce interactive 3D reconstructions that show the anatomy of the apes in an unprecedented and detailed user-friendly way.

The UB team, led by the lecturer from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Josep M Potau, took part directly in the realization of the anatomic dissections that were conducted in different species of hominoid primates -name of the tailless primate superfamily which includes humans and other apes-. In particular, Potau conducted a great part of the dissections of the upper limb, trunk, head and neck in chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons that were analysed for the publication of five photographic anatomic atlases on the anatomy of these hominoid primate species, published by prestigious publishing houses in the science field such as Springer and CRC Press.

“Thanks to this project, a great part of the images that were obtained to create these atlases and be used in our research line are now shared with the public”, notes Josep M Potau. This part of the project counted on the collaboration of researchers from the University of Valladolid (UVA).
Data gathering and images are the result of the multidisciplinary and international collaboration with lecturers, students, anatomic artists and international researchers. The anatomical information was gathered by anatomists, anthropologists and evolutionary biologists from Howard University (United States), institution leading the project. Together with the UB, UVA, the University of George Washington (United States), and the University of Antwerp (Belgium), the project could obtain and dissect most of the studied apes. Also, the University of Aveiro (Portugal) carried out the 3C constructions.

The materials provided by SAP can be useful to evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, vets and comparative anatomists, as well as students, lecturers and the general public. Actually, an important element of the project is the outreach to a general audience and specially communities that are not the usual focus of these science projects.

The website has a section with educational resources with activities to be used in classrooms. These materials are free and are given in Spanish and English, and can be adapted to different educational levels. To guarantee a broader access of the public to the educational content, the project includes the creation of an app for phone devices and dissemination guidelines to involve vets and rural communities in Africa who live close to and take care of apes.