Snaking through primate evolution

Adaptations that have occurred throughout the course of primate evolution and those that are ultimately thought to ‘make us human’ hold a fascination for many. Tool use, language, large brain size and enhanced visual acuity are among such traits that are studied extensively by anthropologists, but it is the latter that is the focus of The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent. The author's research interests in social dispersal led her to the discovery that Asian primates have a retrovirus closely related to that carried by the venomous Russell's viper [1], indicating a shared antagonistic history.