A sub-complete skull of a fossil ape, aged between 19 and 20 million years, attributed to Ugandapithecus major was found on July 18th at Napak XV, a fossil site near Iriri in Karamoja (Eastern Uganda) by a team of researchers from Uganda and France. The French team is led by Professor Brigitte Senut from the National Museum of Natural History, Paris, and Dr Martin Pickford of the Collège de France in Paris and their Ugandan colleagues; Ezra Musiime, Curator of Palaeontology Uganda Museum and Sarah Musalizi, Curator.
The announcement was made by Hon Agnes Akiror, the Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife & Heritage, during a reception organised at the residence of France on 1st August 2011. The Minister repeated the same announcement the following day during a press conference organised at the Uganda Media Centre.
A cross section of Ugandan Scientists and Researchers were also invited to this function. Also present was Uganda’s ambassador to France, Mrs Elizabeth Paula Napeyok and Mr . Augustine Omare Okurut, Secretary General Uganda National Commission for UNESCO.
The skull is of a young adult male as shown by the size of canines and by the fact that the teeth are fully erupted but not heavily worn. It probably belongs to the same individual (also a young male adult) whose fragments of lower jaw were found last year by the same team.
The skull is of similar dimensions to that of a large male chimpanzee, but the teeth are the size of those of a gorilla.
It is the first time that a complete skull of this kind has been found and after study it will yield a wealth of information about the characteristics of the species including its brain size, the shape of its orbits (eye sockets) and nasal cavity and aspects of its diet.
Several skeletal elements of the same species had been found earlier at other sites of Napak volcano and they suggest that the animal was an arboreal climber.
Since 1920, Uganda has been a key country for the study of the origins of the great apes and humans. In particular several discoveries were made in Karamoja at the end of the 1950’s. Research resumed there in 1985 in the framework of a research agreement signed between the Ugandan Museum in Kampala, the Geological Survey of Uganda in Entebbe, the French National Museum of Natural History and the Collège de France in Paris.
This discovery comes in time to mark the 25th anniversary of the collaboration between the French team of researchers led by Professor Brigitte Senut and Uganda Museum.
This collaboration agreement translated into uninterrupted cooperation during these years, with the support of the French Government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French CNRS, Collège de France, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle).
Authorisation to carry out research in Uganda was provided by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and an excavation permit and funding were supplied by the Uganda Museum.
