''Kenyapithecus wickeri'' is a

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

discovered by

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

in 1961 at a site called

Fort Ternan Fort Ternan is a small town in Kericho County, Kenya, located 82 kilometres east of Kisumu and eleven kilometres east of Koru. It is named after Col. Trevor Ternan C.M.G.D.S.O. Fort Ternan is located at the western border of the former Rift Vall ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The

upper jaw In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxillar ...

and

teeth A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

were dated to 14 million years ago. One theory states that ''Kenyapithecus'' may be the common ancestor of all the

great ape The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

s. More recent investigations suggest ''Kenyapithecus'' is more primitive than that and is only slightly more modern than ''

Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

'', which is considered to be an ape. Evidence suggests that ''Kenyapithecus wickeri'' was one of the species that started a radiation of apes out of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Morphology

Impressed by ''Kenyapithecus''s modern-looking teeth, Leakey declared ''Kenyapithecus'' to be "a very early ancestor of man himself." ''Kenyapithecus'' possessed craniodental

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

s for hard object feeding including thicker molar enamel, and a large

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

, large

premolars The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mout ...

and upper

incisors Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

that are similar to those seen in living pitheciine monkeys. ''Kenyapithecus'' also possessed macaque-like limbs adapted for a

knuckle-walking Knuckle-walking is a form of quadrupedal walking in which the forelimbs hold the fingers in a partially flexed posture that allows body weight to press down on the ground through the knuckles. Gorillas and chimpanzees use this style of locomoti ...

mode of semi-terrestrial locomotion.McCrossin ML, Benefit, BR Gitau, SN Palmer, AK Blue, KT. (1998
Fossil evidence for the origins of terrestriality among Old World higher primates
Primate locomotion: recent advances. New York: Plenum Press. p 353-396 This could show that as

hominins The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas), ...

evolved, they passed through a knuckle-walking phase. ''Kenyapithecus wickeri'' has very distinct features, especially details in the

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. In the context of the upper jaw, they are also known as '' fangs''. They can appear more fl ...

and is similar to modern apes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133165, from2=Q14505128 Hominidae Prehistoric apes Miocene primates of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1961 Monotypic prehistoric primate genera Miocene mammals of Africa

Morphology

See also

References