The Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (MUVP) led an international study published in Science, describing a new fossil ape species, *Masripithecus moghraensis*, that lived in Egypt around 17–18 million years ago.

Based on fossils discovered at Wadi Moghra in northern Egypt,

the study suggests that Egypt and the wider Middle East may have played a key role in the early evolution of apes, providing new insights into the origins and diversification of the ancestors of modern apes and humans.