Caley Orr
Associate Professor | CU School of Medicine & CU Denver Anthropology | Paleoanthropology, Primate Morphology, Teaching Anatomy, Noisy Rock & Roll, Felis catus | Research: ucdenver.academia.edu/CaleyOrr
- Reposted by Caley Orr'to treat peer review as a throughput problem is to misunderstand what is at stake. Review is not simply a production stage in the research pipeline; it is one of the few remaining spaces where the scientific community talks to itself.' 1/3
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- I'm happy to present our paper in which we describe hominin postcrania from Drimolen. Many of these specimens sat in a drawer at Wits Uni for > 20 years. It's amusing to me that the image here includes two fossils in that drawer that were labeled "hominin" but that we decided are not! 1/
- Postcranial fossils from the site of Drimolen in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa provide further insights into hominin paleobiology at approximately 2.0 million years ago! New study by Caley M. Orr et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
- Drimolen, like other sites in The Cradle of Humankind, has a mixed craniodental assemblage of Paranthropus robustus & early Homo. That makes sorting out the taxonomy of isolated postcrania difficult if not impossible. This is especially true because Paranthropus & Homo are probably sister taxa. 2/
- Hero.
- Key new fossil telling us about the biography of Paranthropus. It's a bit surprising nothing has turned up before given the presence of the genus in the Omo (southern Ethiopia). It's not such a great distance,especially given we have Paranthropus robustus in southern Africa.
- The oldest documented rock art in the world.
- Our team has its bony fingers all over the cover of The Anatomical Record this month (an effort led by my hardworking coauthors Deanna Goldstein and Biren Patel).
- Our latest issue is now available! anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19328494... The cover article by Deanna Goldstein et al. reports details on whole-bone shape of hominoid manual proximal phalanges: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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- Fantastic! There's not much postcranial material known for Homo habilis or other early Homo species, so this is a very welcome addition to the record. Those are long forearms!
- KNM-ER 64061, most complete Homo habilis skeleton yet (Koobi Fora) shows primitive limb proportions: long forearms, thick cortices, small body mass & ~160 cm stature. Upper limbs like early Homo, but proportions differ from H. erectus Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
- Reposted by Caley OrrDeep Sulawesi cave dig could reveal overlap between extinct humans and us ⛏️🇮🇩 phys.org/news/2026-01...
- My dad always said, "Kids are dumb." Comparative evidence!
- "The ThI-GH hominins...provide strong evidence for an African lineage ancestral to our species. These fossils offer clues about the last common ancestor shared with Neanderthals and Denisovans."
- Reposted by Caley Orr30 years ago today, December 31st 1995, the last ever Calvin & Hobbes comic strip was published. Even now, I still find it so poignant & moving.
- Reposted by Caley OrrThere’s nothing wrong with common sense until you dig a little and learn that common sense is wrong. Thanks @profgalloway.com for providing a great example of common sense that I’ve gotten a kick out of doubting. Thanks @prosocialworld.bsky.social for hosting. www.prosocial.world/posts/whats-...
- Reposted by Caley OrrAnd here’s my other human origins countdown to close out the year! 🏺🧪
- It turns out that the Gen Z lovechild of Kyuss and Babes in Toyland was the sound I needed for 2025. 🔥
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- ...on Christmas. #PunkRockDadJoke (Have yourself a merry little one)
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- Reposted by Caley OrrCurator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
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- Very happy to see our work on the Paranthropus boisei hand highlighted here. It was an incredible fossil to study amidst a great year of Paranthropus discoveries.
- My colleague Ryan McRae and I wrote our annual round up of top discoveries in human evolution from this year for the @plos.org Sci Comm blog - enjoy! scicomm.plos.org/2025/12/19/t...
- Reposted by Caley OrrWhile stories of singular DNA changes that drove evolution of human brain/behaviour remain seductive, advances across multiple fields of biology cast doubt on such simplistic narratives of our origins. A new paper from my lab shows how biobanks may speak to this fundamental question.🧪 Explainer🧵👇1/n
- Professional anatomist here. I label this diagram "Job Security."
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- Reposted by Caley OrrWill an anthropologist be able to identify your sex and gender from your bones 100 years from now? I sure hope so! Read my essay on the limited and limiting methods we currently have for sex estimation to learn where the science has room to improve. www.prosocial.world/posts/an-ant...
- I *do* need more chimpanzee or colobus hand bones! MORE DATA.
- We are excited to announce a new collection - Powell-Cotton Museum! Did you ever need more Chimpanzee or Colobus hand bones for your project, or perhaps some Gorilla tibiae and femora (and more)? Visit the collection and explore! human-fossil-record.org/index.php?/c...
- Great blog post from Karen Baab and colleagues explaining the new reconstruction of the face in the 1.6-1.5 million year old DAN5 specimen of Homo erectus from Gona, Ethiopia. It shows an intriguing blend of traits characteristic of early Homo & more derived populations of Homo erectus.
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- When I "meow" at my cats, they only reply if I do it in their specific register. "Living with humans...likely favored cats that could flexibly adjust their meows. Our results support the idea that meows have evolved into a highly adaptable tool for negotiating life in a human-dominated world."
- Cats' purrs reveal who's who better than their meows 😺 phys.org/news/2025-12...
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- "Moderate hip and knee flexion with slight ankle dorsiflexion yielded the most stable postures but compromised head mobility and vertical support. These trade-offs explain chimpanzees’ limited bipedal capabilities and short bout durations observed in the wild."
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- Geometric morphometrics isn't the right method for the goals of this study & it captures only minor shape differences. Functional anatomy needs underlying mechanical models to guide design & interpretation of our measurements. Unfortunately, shape analysis alone doesn't tell us much about function.
- A fun, engaging discussion of our team's work on the Paranthropus hand. Its combo of features help reconstruct the ancestral condition for Homo (i.e., what would be "transitional") but the fossil also shows specially derived traits that converge on Gorilla. It's its own thing. #paleoanthropology 🧪 🏺
- I made a video about that new Paranthropus hand! youtu.be/WmtNIRqPNc8?...
- Congrats to our coauthor Joseph Won (PhD Program in Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center) on his 1st publication. Curvature of the hand & foot proximal phalanges varies between two orangutan species consistent with differences in their substrate use (all trees vs. some ground use). 🧪
- Martin et al argue the Little Foot skeleton (StW 573) is distinct from Australopithecus africanus but shouldn't be attributed to A. prometheus, because MLD 1, the original fossil called "A. prometheus" was sunk into A. africanus. By the rules of taxonomy, StW 573 needs a new name. #paleoanthropology
- "Ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data support a dual-origin model for cat dispersal, indicating an initial spread from Anatolia to Europe by Neolithic farmers ~6400 years ago, followed by a second wave from Egypt ~2000 years ago." 🧪 #cats
- I'm always thankful for the Drive-By Truckers.
