Mother of All Apes May Have Been Surprisingly Small (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: From sturdy chimpanzees to massive gorillas to humans themselves, the living great apes are all large-bodied, weighing between 30 and 180 kilograms. So for years most researchers thought the ancestral ape must have tipped the scales as well. But the partial skeleton of an 11.6-million-year-old primitive ape may force scientists to reimagine the ancestor of all living apes and humans. With a muzzle like a gibbon but a large brain for its body size, the ancient primate has traits that link it to all apes and humans—yet it weighed only 4 kg to 5 kg, according to a report today in Science.

Comments

Err yes

[wonkey_monkey]

From sturdy chimpanzees to massive gorillas to humans themselves, the living great apes are all large-bodied, weighing between 30 and 180 kilograms.

Err, yes, that's why they're called "great apes," isn't it?

There are lesser apes as well, which are all gibbons.

So for years most researchers thought the ancestral ape must have tipped the scales as well.

I assume there's a bit more to the previous reasoning than that.