Posted: Oct 19, 2016 1:06 am
Wortfish wrote:Oldskeptic wrote:
After the split from chimps and gorillas the ancestors the orangutans spread to Asia where their evolution continued. One thing to remember is that orangutans are not only separated from chimps, gorillas, and humans by great distance but also by a greater amount of time, 14 million years.
OK. But there are no pongin specimens in Africa. There are some in Turkey, India/Pakistan and Thailand, as well as their home in Indonesia/Malaysia.
Why are there no new world monkeys in Africa? Answer: Because the geographical split between new world monkeys and old world monkeys happened around 40 MYA and they evolved differently on different continents.
That is the same answer you get for why there are no urangutans in Africa, extant or fossil. The ancestors of new world monkeys drifted away on the South American continent, the ancestors of urangutans most likely walked or swung away in the trees or drifted onto islands on artificial rafts. The reason there is no evidence of urangutans in Africa is because there never were urangutans in Africa only their ancestors that also happen to be the ancestors of chimps, gorillas, and us.