Scientists unearth ancient ape
Source: Agencies |
August 4, 2011, Thursday
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UGANDAN and French scientists have discovered the fossilized skull of a tree-climbing ape from about 20 million years ago in Uganda's Karamoja region.
The scientists found the remains last month while looking for fossils near an extinct volcano in Karamoja, a semi-arid region in northeast Uganda.
Martin Pickford, a paleontologist from the College de France in Paris, said: "This is the first time that the complete skull of an ape of this age has been found. It is a highly important fossil."
He said preliminary studies showed the tree-climbing herbivore, roughly 10 years old when it died, had a head the size of a chimpanzee's but a brain the size of a baboon's, a bigger ape.
Bridgette Senut, a professor at the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle, said the remains would be taken to Paris to be x-rayed and documented before being returned to Uganda.
She said: "It will be cleaned in France, it will be prepared in France and then in about one year's time it will be returned to the country."
The paleontologists said it was a specimen of a species they called Ugandapithecus major, which was first described by Senut in 2000 on the basis of fragmentary remains.
The scientists found the remains last month while looking for fossils near an extinct volcano in Karamoja, a semi-arid region in northeast Uganda.
Martin Pickford, a paleontologist from the College de France in Paris, said: "This is the first time that the complete skull of an ape of this age has been found. It is a highly important fossil."
He said preliminary studies showed the tree-climbing herbivore, roughly 10 years old when it died, had a head the size of a chimpanzee's but a brain the size of a baboon's, a bigger ape.
Bridgette Senut, a professor at the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle, said the remains would be taken to Paris to be x-rayed and documented before being returned to Uganda.
She said: "It will be cleaned in France, it will be prepared in France and then in about one year's time it will be returned to the country."
The paleontologists said it was a specimen of a species they called Ugandapithecus major, which was first described by Senut in 2000 on the basis of fragmentary remains.
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