![]() ![]() ![]() 5.6 million years ago, the first truly bipedal ape, Ardipithecus, arose. ( Credit: Eric Kilby/flickr)īut along the track of our direct ancestors, the developments were rapid and profound. An evolutionary split that occurred approximately 5.6 million years ago marks the divergence of these creatures from modern humans. Bonobos are incredibly social, but still are not truly bipedal, as they maneuver on four limbs frequently. The largest primate ever, Gigantopithecus, first arose some 9 million years ago, only becoming extinct a few hundred thousand years ago.īonobos, along with chimpanzees, are the two species most closely related to human beings that remain on Earth today. The Orang-utans spread into southern Asia after this, while the other great apes remained in Africa. Sometime between 14 and 16 million years ago, the first great apes appeared, with Orang-utans branching off 14 million years ago. The earliest ape to split off from the Old World monkeys was the Gibbon, a lesser ape that first emerged 18 million years ago. The apes - defined by the complete lack of a tail of any type - would go on to give rise to many of the close relatives of humans that survive today: both the lesser apes and the great apes. 25 million years ago, the first apes evolved, splitting off from the remaining Old World monkeys at that time. The Old World monkeys continue to thrive and successfully occupy their niches, while diversifying in body size and physical features. This endangered species of animal is part of a lineage that split off from the Old World monkeys that humans are a part of some 40 million years ago. The golden-headed lion tamarin is an example of a New World monkey. They would go on to colonize most of South America, where they are still found in abundance today. Humans and our ape ancestors are descended from Old World monkeys New World monkeys are the first simians (or higher primates) to evolutionary diverge from our lineage. Although this was originally touted as a proverbial “missing link” in human evolution, Ida is not a haplorrhine like us, but a strepsirrhene: a wet-nosed primate.īut another 7 million years later - 40 million years ago - an important development occurred among the dry-nosed primates: the New World monkeys branched off. Right around that time, 47 million years ago, the primate Darwinius masillae existed, as the fossil Ida, preserved from that time, provides a spectacular example. Although it dates back to 47 million years ago, it is probably more closely related to a lemur than it is to a human. The early fossilized remains of Darwinius Masilae, known as “Ida,” was originally thought by many to be a missing link in human ancestry, but this specimen is almost certainly a strepsirrhene, not a haplorrhine like monkeys, apes, and humans are. Evolution is driven by environmental changes, and that includes all the floral and faunal changes that occur on our planet. ![]() All throughout the past 65 million years - just as it was before that time - the various mammals, birds, plants, and other living organisms evolved together. This type of evolutionary splitting occurs every so often, and isn’t unique to primates.Īlthough we normally don’t think very much about our distant cousins and how they develop once they’ve split off from us, it isn’t just haplorrhines like us (and our direct ancestors) that underwent interesting phases of evolution. The niche it now occupied was sufficiently different from the remaining groups of our ancestors that they evolved differently from the rest of their cousins from this point onwards. Note that they have dry, rather than wet, noses. With its enormous eyes but a dry nose, the tarsier holds the distinction as the first haplorrhine to diverge from the mammalian lineage that would give rise to monkeys, apes, and eventually modern humans. ![]()
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