Extinct monkeys rafted across the Atlantic to South America

Paleontologist Erik Seiffert of the University of Southern California identified fossil teeth in Peru that suggest an extinct family of primates traveled from Africa to South America over 30 million years ago.

The fossils, which Seiffert and his colleagues published in Science, were found near the border of Peru and Brazil along the Río Yurúa. These teeth belong to a species the researchers named Ucayalipithecus perdita.

The study indicates that these primates, known as parapithecids, reached the New World by drifting across the Atlantic Ocean on mats of vegetation and earth. While the ancestors of modern capuchin and woolly monkeys made similar journeys, this discovery shows that a different, entirely extinct family of primates also crossed the ocean. The researchers believe the journey was accidental, occurring during the Late Eocene when Africa and South America were closer together than they are today.

The researchers argue that the distance between the continents was roughly 930 to 1,300 miles during that period, which is shorter than the modern distance of 1,770 miles. The presence of these fossils far inland suggests that the monkeys thrived in South America for some time after their arrival. Paleoprimatologist Ellen Miller noted that the appearance of these monkeys in South America implies that primates made multiple oceanic journeys throughout prehistoric time.