The ape in the tree
Subtitle: an intellectual & natural history of Proconsul
By: Alan Walker, Pat Shipman
Contributors: Shipman, Pat, 1949-
Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
Subjects: Proconsul (Fossil primates); Apes, Fossil; Paleontology -- Miocene
Description: "This book offers a unique insider's perspective on the unfolding discovery of a crucial link in our evolution: Proconsul, a fossil ape named whimsically after a performing chimpanzee called Consul." "The Ape in the Tree is written in the voice of Alan Walker, whose involvement with Proconsul began when his graduate supervisor analyzed the tree-climbing adaptations in the arm and hand of this extinct creature. Today, Proconsul is the best-known fossil ape in the world." "The history of ideas is set against the vivid adventures of Walker's fossil-hunting expeditions in remote regions of Africa, where the team met with violent thunderstorms, dangerous wildlife, and people isolated from the Western world. Analysis of the thousands of new Proconsul specimens they recovered provides revealing glimpses of the life of this last common ancestor between apes and humans."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-275) and index