My Primate Family Tree

My primate family tree is a science-meets-art public engagement project at the Living Links Centre. We commissioned a large scale piece of artwork by Scottish artist Russell Dempster, depicting the evolutionary tree of primates, populated by life-size apes and monkeys.

Visitors are encouraged to stand in the correct evolutionary place for a human and ‘join’ the primate family tree by taking their photographs and uploading them to our internet gallery, alongside scientists and other celebrities. Our goal is to make this an iconic, well-known image with an underlying evolutionary, scientific message.

An interactive ‘My Primate Family Tree’ game by Mark Bowler complements the piece in the centre. There is also a short video documentary entitled ‘What is an Ancestor’ available on our YouTube and Vimeo channels.

To further explore the entire tree of life we recommend a visit to the website OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer.