Proconsul (mammal)

Proconsul is an extinct genus of primate that lived between 21 and 17 million years ago, during the Miocene epoch. Its fossils have been uncovered in Eastern Africa, specifically in Kenya and Uganda. So far, scientists have classified four species within the genus: *P. africanus*, *P. gitongai*, *P. major*, and *P. meswae*, which differ mainly in body size. Reconstructions of the environments where these primates lived are still uncertain, but they range from forested areas to more open, arid grasslands.

In evolutionary biology, Proconsul is generally considered a stem hominoid that predates the split between Old World monkeys and apes, not a direct ancestor of gibbons, great apes, or humans. Its name, which means "before Consul," was coined by Arthur Hopwood in 1933. Consul was the name of a chimpanzee on display in London at the time, and the name was meant to suggest that Proconsul was ancestral to chimpanzees—and possibly to other apes as well.

**Description**

Proconsul had a mix of traits seen in both Old World monkeys and apes, which makes its classification within the ape superfamily Hominoidea uncertain. Some researchers place it outside that group, before the evolutionary split between apes and Old World monkeys. Its monkey-like features include a long, flexible back suited for a pronograde (horizontal) posture, curved metacarpals, and a way of moving that involved walking on all fours along tree branches. What links Proconsul to modern apes is its lack of a tail. Other ape-like traits include better grasping abilities, a stable elbow joint, and certain facial features. However, Proconsul could not hang easily from branches like gibbons and other nonhuman apes do today.

**Discovery and Classification**

The first Proconsul fossil—a partial jaw—was found in 1909 by a gold prospector at Koru, near Kisumu in western Kenya. At the time, it was the oldest known fossil hominoid, though it was far from the first fossil mammal discovered in sub-Saharan Africa. Arthur Hopwood gave the genus its name in 1933. The name "Consul" had been used for performing chimpanzees in circuses and zoos, including one at the Folies Bergère in Paris in 1903 and another at Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, England, in 1894. When the Manchester chimp died, poet Ben Brierley wrote a poem wondering where the "Missing Link" between chimpanzees and humans might be.