''Theropithecus brumpti'' was a large terrestrial

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

that lived in the mid to late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58papionin. This

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

is mostly known from skulls and mandibles found in Pliocene deposits excavated in the Shungura Formation, at the Omo River,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Both ''T. brumpti'' and its cousin, the extant gelada (''T. gelada''), were related to the

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the biology, genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow ba ...

Description

Similar to most other such animals, ''T. brumpti'' was quadrupedal with highly dexterous, manipulative hands. Males grew very large, as evidenced by a specimen found at

Lomekwi Lomekwi is an archaeological site located on the west bank of Turkana Lake in Kenya. It is an important milestone in the history of human archaeology. An archaeological team from Stony Brook University in the United States discovered traces o ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, which was estimated to have weighed approximately 43.8 kilograms. (In comparison, the male gelada averages around 20 kilograms ). In addition, the male was most likely very colorful, with the female smaller and less colorful; the species displayed a high degree of sexual dimorphism. Like most papionins, the male possessed large canine teeth, primarily for display. Theropithecus brumpti 1

Diet

''Theropithecus brumpti'' was most likely a folivore. Large muscles in the long muzzle suggest ''T. brumpti'' ate tough vegetation, and was capable of breaking and eating large nuts.

Habitat

This species was largely terrestrial, with the size of adult males making any significant

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

lifestyle unlikely. From the locations of ''T. brumpti'' finds, the species lived in riverine forest habitats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7783300 Pliocene primates Prehistoric monkeys Papionini Pliocene mammals of Africa Fossil taxa described in 1947