ëSome 18 to 20 million years ago, the forests of East Africa were home to the great apes, including the ºproconsulº. They moved on all fours, both through the trees and on the ground. When the Earth's climate changed between four and six million years ago, the ºproconsulsº were divided into two groups. To the west, where the forests still grew, they became chimpanzees and gorillas. To the east, they adapted to a drier savanna climate and became bipeds - the ancestors of humans. Research since the 19th century has uncovered the extraordinary story of the evolution of modern humans, ºHomo sapiens sapiensº, from these earliest African ancestors.c@The ºproconsulº@
The ºproconsulº is believed to be an ancestor of both the great apes and humans.
