Anthropologists identify another ancient primate
| Durham, N.C.
Researchers have positively identified the oldest know common ancestor of man and the apes, according to Duke University anthropologist Elwyn L. Simons. Dr. Simons, who heads Duke's Center for the Study of Primate Biology and History, said the small apelike creature lived 30 million years ago in complex social groups defended by large males. He said the findings are based on about 40 fossil specimens found in Egypt as recently as 1977 and 1978.
The creature was given the name Aegyptopithecus zeuxis by Dr. Simons in 1965. The name means "connecting ape of Egypt."
