News Anthropology

A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon

Ancestors of these small-bodied apes were in India roughly 13 million years ago, a study suggests

photo of a gibbon looking at the camera

Ancestors of modern gibbons, such as this one, reached what’s now India around the same time as evolutionary precursors of present-day orangutans did, roughly 13 million years ago, a new fossil find suggests.

SanderMeertins/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

While searching for primate fossils in northern India, paleontologist Christopher Gilbert noticed something small and shiny poking out of the dirt.