Smithsonian Magazine

Jawbone fragments and teeth from a previously unknown species hint that the evolution of modern apes occurred in what’s now North Africa or the Arabian Peninsula, rather than in East Africa

In 2024, a group of paleontologists journeyed into the dry, sandy desert of northern Egypt in search of fossils in a valley called Wadi Moghra. Scientists had previously found ancient monkey remains there, but the team hoped to be the first to find some from an ape.