The Ape in the Tree

<p>This book offers a unique insider's perspective on the unfolding discovery of a crucial link in our evolution: <i>Proconsul</i>, a fossil ape named whimsically after a performing chimpanzee called Consul. <br><br><i>The Ape in the Tree</i> is written in the voice of Alan Walker, whose involvement with <i>Proconsul</i> 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. <br><br>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 <i>Proconsul</i> specimens they recovered provides revealing glimpses of the life of this last common ancestor between apes and humans. <br><br>The attributes of <i>Proconsul</i> have profound implications for the very definition of humanness. This book speaks not only of an ape in a tree but also of the ape in our tree.</p>