For decades, discussions about the earliest stages of ape evolution have largely centred on East Africa. Many of the fossils that shaped scientific thinking were discovered there, leading to the view that the region was the primary setting where the ancestors of modern apes first diversified before spreading elsewhere. That picture has now become less straightforward. A newly described fossil ape from northern Egypt is prompting researchers to reconsider where some of the earliest branches of the ape family tree emerged. Rather than replacing earlier discoveries, the find expands the map, suggesting that parts of northeastern Africa may have played a much larger role in hominoid evolution than previously recognised. Dating to around
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