Proconsul

Name: Proconsul (Greek for "before Consul," a well-known circus ape); pronounced pro-
CON-sul.
Habitat: Jungles of Africa
Historical Epoch: Early Miocene (23-17 million years ago)
Size and Weight: About 3-5 feet long and 25-100 pounds
Diet: Omnivorous
Distinguishing Characteristics: Monkey-like posture; flexible hands and feet; lack of tail
As far as palaeontologists can tell, Proconsul marks the time in primate evolution when the
“old world” monkeys and apes diverged from a common ancestor — which means, in
layman’s terms, that Proconsul may (or may not) have been the first true ape. In fact, this
ancient primate combined various characteristics of monkeys and apes; its hands and feet
were more flexible than those of contemporary monkeys, but it still walked in a monkey-like
way, on all fours and parallel to the ground. Perhaps most tellingly, the various species of
Proconsul (which ranged from a smallish 30 pounds or so to a largish 100) lacked tails, a
distinctly ape-like trait. If Proconsul was, in fact, an ape, that would make it distantly
ancestral to humans, and perhaps even a true “hominid,” though its brain size indicates that it
wasn’t much smarter than the average monkey.
However it winds up being classified, Proconsul holds a special place in hominid
palaeontology. When its remains were first discovered, back in 1909, Proconsul was not only
the oldest ape yet identified, but the first prehistoric mammal ever to be unearthed in sub-
Saharan Africa. The name “Proconsul” is a story in itself: this early Miocene primate wasn’t
named after the revered proconsuls (provincial governors) of ancient Rome, but after a pair of
popular circus chimpanzees, both named Consul, one of which performed in England and the
other in France. “Before Consul,” as the Greek name translates, may not seem very dignified
for such a remote human ancestor, but that’s the moniker that has stuck!
Many people mistakenly believe that Proconsul was one of the immediate predecessors of
Homo sapiens. In fact, though, this ancient primate lived during the Miocene epoch, from
about 23 to 17 million years ago, at least 15 million years before the first recognizable human
ancestors (like Australopithecus and Paranthropus) evolved in Africa. It’s not even a sure
thing that Proconsul spawned the line of hominids that led to modern humans; this primate
may have belonged to a “sister taxon,” which would make it more of a great-great-great uncle
a thousand times removed.
Proconsul was an early genus of primates from the Miocene epoch. Proconsul- walked on
hind legs without support from the arm (Palispis & Sampa, 2016). Proconsul fossils provide a
good idea of the basic anatomy and locomotion of apes during early stages of radiation.
Proconsul’s monkey-like features include pronograde posture, indicated by a long flexible
back, curved metacarpals, and an above-branch arboreal quadrupedal positional repertoire.
The primary feature linking Proconsul with extant apes is its lack of a tail; other “ape-like”
features include its enhanced grasping capabilities, stabilized elbow joint and facial structure.
Proconsul could not hang effortlessly from tree branches like gibbons and other nonhuman
apes do today.