Sivapithecus indicus Pilgrim, 1910 - fossil ape skull from the Miocene of Pakistan. (public display, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA) (replica, based on GSP 15000, Geological Survey of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan)

From museum signage: "Apes are our closest relatives.

Hominids evolved from an ape ancestor. Apes have been around for some 22 million years. They are primates that have certain features setting them apart from other primates, such as monkeys and lemurs.

Apes don't have tails, for one thing. Apes also have very mobile hip and shoulder joints that allow them to hang, swing, walk, and move in ways other primates cannot.

[M]ore than 100 species of ape [are] known to have lived between 22 million and five million years ago. That's more than seven times the number of ape species that live today. Today's few ape species make their homes in small pockets in Africa and Southeast Asia. But apes in their heyday thrived from Africa to Asia to Europe to the Middle East. "

A possible puncture mark on this fossil skull indicates it was preyed upon or scavenged post-mortem. (Preuss, 1982)

Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Primates, Hominoidea, Pongidae

Stratigraphy: U Sandstone, Dhok Pathan Formation, Siwalik Group, Upper Miocene

Locality: Geological Survey of Pakistan locality 410, near the town of Kaulial, Potwar Plateau, northeastern Pakistan

See info. at: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivapithecus" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivapithecus</a>

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