A team of Ugandan and French paleontologists announced Tuesday they had found a 20-million-year-old ape skull in northeastern Uganda, saying it could shed light on the region\'s evolutionary history.\"This is the first time that the complete skull of an ape of this age has been found ... it is a highly important fossil and it will certainly put Uganda on the map in terms of the scientific world,\" Martin Pickford, a paleontologist from the College de France in Paris, told journalists in Kampala.The fossilised skull belonged to a male Ugandapithecus Major, a remote cousin of today\'s great apes which roamed the region around 20 million years ago.The team discovered the remains on July 18 while looking for fossils in the remnants of an extinct volcano in Uganda\'s remote northeastern Karamoja region.Preliminary studies of the fossil showed that the tree-climbing herbivore, roughly 10 years old when it died, had a head the size of a chimpanzee’s but a brain the size of a baboon’s, Pickford said.Brigitte Senut, a professor at the Musee National d’Histoire Naturelle, said that the remains would be taken to Paris to be x-rayed and documented before being returned to Uganda.\"It will be cleaned in France, it will be prepared in France... and then in about one year\'s time it will be returned to the country,\" Senut said.Paleontologists from France have been visiting Uganda on expeditions funded by the French government for the past 25 years, Senut said.The least developed region in Uganda, the arid plains of Karamoja have in recent years been largely pacified following decades of insecurity linked to armed cattle raiding between nomad communities.
GMT 05:20 2017 Sunday ,03 December
Saudi tourism body to award museum, heritage contracts worth SR1.2 billionGMT 12:48 2017 Saturday ,02 December
Multimillion-riyal Qassim Museum to showcase rich Saudi heritageGMT 17:21 2017 Thursday ,23 November
David Cassidy, 1970s heartthrob, dies at 67GMT 06:31 2017 Sunday ,19 November
Casablanca’s Hassan II Mosque: the ‘World’s Most Beautiful Religious Building’GMT 10:14 2017 Saturday ,18 November
King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture ITHRA scouting for next gen contemporary artistsGMT 10:02 2017 Saturday ,18 November
Lebanese pianist Michel Fadel regales Jeddah music loversGMT 12:31 2017 Friday ,17 November
Misk Foundation and Virgin Hyperloop One sign major dealMisk Foundation and Virgin Hyperloop One sign major dealGMT 07:36 2017 Friday ,17 November
Da Vinci portrait of Christ sells for record $450.3 million in New YorkMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©