News Paleontology

Monkeys reached Americas about 36 million years ago

Peruvian fossils suggest ancient African primates somehow crossed the ocean

Monkeys

OLD TIES  Roughly 36-million-year-old primates from Peru and Libya (rough reconstructions shown) display similarities that, like fossils of these creatures, denote a spread of ancient primates from Africa to South America. Red dots show fossil sites.

Ron Blakey

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

A handful of roughly 36-million-year-old fossil teeth unearthed in Peru have put new bite into the idea that ancient African monkeylike primates somehow reached South America and sparked the evolution of New World monkeys.