18 million-year-old fossils of ape found in Africa, but in an unexpected place
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- Fossils of an 18 million-year-old ape species, Masripithecus moghraensis, discovered in northern Egypt suggest that the ancestors of all living apes, including humans, may have originated in northeast Africa or Arabia rather than East Africa as previously thought.
- The fossils, consisting of jawbone fragments and teeth, were analyzed and placed on the evolutionary line just before the split between great apes and lesser apes, indicating close relation to the last common ancestor of modern apes.
- This finding challenges the long-held view that modern apes originated in East Africa, proposing instead that the common ancestor lived in the northern Afro-Arabian landmass, though some experts call for more complete fossils to confirm this.
- The discovery aligns with evidence that great apes once lived in West Asia and that modern hominoids likely passed through northeastern Afro-Arabia, highlighting the region's potential significance in ape evolution.
- Researchers emphasize that further fossil discoveries in Egypt and surrounding areas could greatly enhance understanding of early ape evolution and the origins of modern apes.
