DUPC Head of the Division of Fossil Primates and Senior Primate Biologist (right):
Elwyn L. Simons, Ph.D.

Head Curator Division of Fossil Primates (left):
Prithijit Chatrath


     One of the most unusual aspects of the Duke Primate Center is the opportunity it provides to study both the living prosimians and fossil primates. The Primate Center receives a grant from NSF, which is awarded solely for the maintenance of the living colony; and the research on fossils is supported through other grants and private funds awarded to Simons. The fossil collection is an intellectually significant part of the Primate Center, but is maintained at the Division of Fossil Primates facility. The fossil collection enhances scholarly research on prosimians and sheds light on their historical relationship to other primates.
     The number of publications from the center is now over 750, and nearly half of the contributions are concerned with fossils. Students, faculty and researchers working at the Primate Center have access to living primates, their preserved skeletons, frozen tissues, and fossils of related animals. The Division of Fossil Primate's combined osteological and fossil collection now holds over 22,000 specimens and is arguably the best collection of fossil primates in the Western Hemisphere.
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Senior Primate Biologist and the Primate Center