Apes radiate across Africa
Afropithecus, Ekembo, Turkanapithecus and others fill the East African forests with hominoids.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 6 million years
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Miocene, Cenozoic
The early Miocene of East Africa carries a diversity of apes with no modern parallel — at least a dozen genera occupying different body sizes and diets, from small fruit-eaters to hard-object feeders with thick enamel. There are more ape species than monkey species in these faunas, an exact inversion of the modern situation. Africa at this time is heavily forested and warm, and apes are the dominant medium-sized arboreal mammals.