Just when and how Old World monkeys—a diverse and widespread group that includes macaques, baboons, and leaf monkeys—dispersed out of Africa and into Eurasia has never been fully understood. But a new discovery of a 7-million-year-old monkey fossil is providing important clues.
It was previously thought that at least some of these monkeys may have dispersed into Eurasia over the Mediterranean Basin or Straits of Gibraltar around 6 million years ago. At this time, the Mediterranean Sea dried up, allowing animals to cross between North Africa and Europe.
The newly discovered fossil, however, indicates that Old World monkey dispersal could have taken place through the Arabian Peninsula even before the Messinian Crisis. The fossil, a very small lower molar, was discovered on Abu Dhabi’s Shuwaihat Island in 2009.
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