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Evolution of the orang-utan

Abstract

The common assumption that the lineage leading to modern orang-utans has always been arboreal is based on general principles of irreversibility and parsimony rather than on any direct evidence of postcranial morphology in ancestral species. We argue here that the available evidence, albeit indirect and circumstantial, justifies the concept of a Pliocene orang-utan ancestor at least as terrestrial as the modern chimpanzee.

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Smith, R., Pilbeam, D. Evolution of the orang-utan. Nature 284, 447–448 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/284447a0

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