An ape from Egypt moves the family tree north

For decades, the oldest chapters of the ape story — our story — were read from East Africa. A fossil jaw from Egypt just added a chapter from the north. Named Masripithecus moghraensis, it lived 17 to 18 million years ago and is the first conclusive ape fossil found in North Africa, detailed in Science by researchers from Mansoura University's Vertebrate Paleontology Center and the University of Southern California, led by paleontologist Hesham Sallam. Its mix of robust canines and distinctively textured molars makes it look more closely related to modern apes than any known ape of its age from East Africa — a hint that the roots of all living apes may reach further north than textbooks said.