A sub-complete skull of a fossil ape, aged between 19 and 20 millions years, attributed to Ugandapithecus major was found on July 18^th at Napak XV, a fossil site near Iriri in Karamoja by a team of researchers from Uganda and France.

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.

The skull was found in volcanic ash erupted between 19 and 20 million years ago on the slopes of Napak Volcano, between Alekilek and Lomorutoit. It is associated with abundant fossil plant and animal remains which provide information that the palaeoenvironment at that time (the Miocene Period) was forested.

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 25^th anniversary of the collaboration between the French team led by Professor Brigitte Senut from the National Museum of Natural History, Paris, and Dr Martin Pickford of the Collège de France in Paris together with its Ugandan colleagues; Ezra Musiime, Curator of Palaeontology, Uganda Museum and Sarah Musalizi, Curator. 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 was supplied by the Uganda Museum.

Figure 2. Anterior view of the snout of Ugandapithecus major showing the front teeth and the nasal cavity.