Steven Morris

Survey of 164 primates in Rwanda shows how impact of being close to others is affected by group size and sex

Human friendship groups are complex – and often fraught – but a study of mountain gorillas has found that their societies can also be head-scratchingly complicated.

The study, which took in 20 years of health data involving 164 gorillas in Rwanda, discovered that the costs and benefits of being close to others changed depending on the size of groups and differed for males and females.

‘Pilot gigs’ were crucial for islanders for centuries and 90 important sites housing the boats have been identified

Swift, streamlined boats for centuries helped save lives and move people and goods around the treacherous waters of the Isles of Scilly.

An archaeological project has highlighted just how crucial the agile, tough “pilot gigs” were for islanders by mapping 90 sites of sheds that housed the boats, the earliest believed to date back to the 17th century.