''Rudapithecus'' is a chimpanzee-likeLászló Kordos: 50 years of Rudapithecus
(in Hungarian) genus of ape which inhabited

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

during the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

, around 10 million years ago. One species is known, ''Rudapithecus hungaricus''. The genus name "''Rudapithecus''" comes from where it was discovered, in Rudabánya'',''

Northern Hungary Northern Hungary (, ) is a region in Hungary. As a statistical region it includes the counties Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves and Nógrád, but in colloquial speech it usually also refers to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. The region is in the ...

in 1965 and sent to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1967. The specific name "''hungaricus''" refers to the country where it was discovered, in Hungary. ''Rudapithecus'' probably moved among branches like modern apes do now, holding its body upright, and climbing trees with its arms. ''Rudapithecus hungaricus'' differed from modern great apes by having a more flexible lumbar, which indicates when ''Rudapithecus'' came down to the ground, it might have had the ability to stand upright like humans do. Modern ''

Gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

, Pan,'' and '' Pongo'' have a long pelvis, and a short lumbar because they are very large animals, which is why they usually walk on all fours. Humans have a longer, more flexible lumbar, which allow humans to stand upright, and walk efficiently on two legs. It is known that ''Rudapithecus'' had a more flexible torso than today's apes, because it was much smaller, about the size of a medium-sized dog.

References

Dryopithecini Prehistoric apes Miocene primates of Europe {{paleo-primate-stub