New Fossil Suggests We Had A Gibbon-Like Early Ancestor

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Reconstruction of the skull and representation of Pliobates cataloniae. Marta Palmero/Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont

Humans and other great apes diverged from smaller, "lesser" apes like gibbons about 17 million years ago based on molecular data. It’s thought that our common ancestor was great ape-like, and that gibbons are a specialized, dwarfed lineage that evolved from big-bodied apes. However, a new fossil small-bodied ape discovered in Spain – and dating back just 11.6 million years – features characteristics of both groups. They named it Pliobates cataloniae.