Somebody asked: How much do we actually know about the history of apes? When did they first appear on Earth, and how have they evolved over time?

I think we know this pretty well. :-)
See my new book “De Evolutie van de Mens - waarom wij rechtop lopen en kunnen spreken” (Acad.Uitg. 2022 Utrecht NL), p.299–300, App.16 "Hypothesis: Plate Tectonics & Hominoid Splittings"

Allopatric Speciation is often caused by plate tectonics. “Normal” continental speeds are ~5 cm/yr, but India approaches S-Asia with ~20 cm/yr (Himalaya fm). Initially (~30–25 Ma?) we saw island archipels, rich in low, hot coastal forests. Island animals often evolve in unexpected ways. The first Catarrhini that reached these islands became the apes (Hominoidea): they became bipedal waders-climbers between mangroves etc..: they got larger, lost the tail, evolved a very broad breast-bone (apes=Hominoidea=Latisternalia) & thorax (+ dorsal rather than lateral scapulas) & pelvis, a shorter & more central (rather than dorsal) lumbar spine, longer arms etc., google *aquarboreal*.

When India went further underneath Eurasia, this split ~20 Ma the Hominoidea into lesser apes = Hylobatidae (East) & the great apes (West) who followed the coastal forests along the northern Tethys Sea. The Mesopotamian Seaway closure ~15 Ma divided the great apes into sivapiths-pongids (E) & dryopiths-hominids (W). The aquarboreal pongids in S-Asia forced the hylobatids higher into the trees (gibbons became smaller & more agile, but still upright). The hominids followed the N-Mediterranean coasts, e.g. the bipedal footprints of Trachilos, Crete ~6 Ma (Gierliński 2017, Kirscher 2021), Graeco- & Oreopithecus & many other “dryopiths” that entered Europe along lakes & rivers.
Hominids s.s. (Gorilla & Homo-Pan) colonized the (beginning) Red Sea. The beginning E.African Rift System northern EARS (~8 Ma?) was populated by Gorilla-australopiths: Afar, Turkana etc.: Sahelanthropus, Orrorin & later gracile Pliocene Praeanthropus afarensis (Lucy) & robust early-Pleist.boisei. Fossil hunters always find “human ancestors”, but curiously (almost) 0 ancestors or relatives of chimps, 0 of bonobos, 0 of lowland & 0 of highland gorillas… Statistically impossible, of course: they forget that Afr.ape ancestors were more humanlike! See 1994 Hum.Evol.9:121-139 “Australopithecines: Ancestors of the African Apes” & 1996 Hum.Evol.11:35-41 “Morphological distance between australopithecine, human and ape skulls”.
Late-Miocene Homo-Pan at first remained along the Red Sea, but when the Red Sea opened into the Gulf (5,33 Ma?), Homo went left (S.Asia), and Pan -> right along the E.Afr.coasts & later as australopiths via the southern EARS (Malawi-meer etc.) entered S.Africa (// Gorilla northern EARS) -> gracile late-Pliocene africanus & robust early-Pleistocene robustus, as well as naledi & (some?) habilis etc.

Meanwhile, Plio-Pleistocene Homo was, of course, no endurance runner over Afr.savannas (= idiotic & unscientific fantasy: fat, furless, flat-footed, water+salt-sweating savanna runners!?! :-DDD): they simply followed the S..Asian coasts -> Mojokerto etc. (google e.g. “shell engraving Joordens”).

Google “human evolution verhaegen”. :-)

littor...@gmail.com wrote:

> See my new book “De Evolutie van de Mens - waarom wij rechtop lopen en kunnen spreken”
> (Acad.Uitg. 2022 Utrecht NL), p.299–300, App.16 "Hypothesis: Plate Tectonics & Hominoid Splittings"

Have you considered this?

https://www.gutenberg.org

It's not available in English, at least not on Amazon. You should also do an audio version
so people can listen as they're stuck in traffic.

https://librivox.org

The website isn't working as of this moment, but there is a link to archive..org and the
audio books there...

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/704983418715455488

Op vrijdag 30 december 2022 om 20:23:14 UTC+1 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:
> littor...@gmail.com wrote:

> > See my new book “De Evolutie van de Mens - waarom wij rechtop lopen en kunnen spreken”
> > (Acad.Uitg. 2022 Utrecht NL), p.299–300, App.16 "Hypothesis: Plate Tectonics & Hominoid Splittings"

> Have you considered this?
> https://www.gutenberg.org

Thanks a lot, but my App.16 already needs a few updates!
It was written when my book was almost in press: I had just read about the Mesopotamian Seaway closure c 15 Ma (i.e. at the time when hominids & pongids split) & about the opening of the Red Sea into the Gulf c 5 Ma (5.3 Ma, caused by the Zanclean mega-flood??).
It was too beautiful not to mention the possibility. It's very striking: schematically:
c 25 Ma - India approaching S.Asia (island archipels + coastal forests) split apes vs Old World monkeys,
c 20 Ma - india reaching S.Asia split great ->W & lesser apes ->E coastal forests,
c 15 Ma - Mesopot.Seaway closure split dryopiths-hominids (W) & sivapiths-pongids (E),
c 8 Ma - the incipient northern Rift (EARS) split Gorilla (->Afar etc.) vs Homo-Pan,
c 5 Ma - the Red Sea opening into the Gulf split Pan right ->E.Africa & Homo left ->S.Asia.

Perfect!
:-)

But a lot of questions remain: did Mio-Pliocene apes only wade? did some of them already dive??
did some of them already use (stone?) tools for opening mangrove oysters?? cf. larger brains?
how many of them followed rivers?lakes?swamps inland? & when? parallel evolutions?

But as long as anthropocentric PAs believe they descend from australopiths, or that only human ancestors were bipedal, and afrocentric PAs believe they came from Africa (even from savannas!! :-DDD) and that all Afr.hominid fossils are human ancestors (chimps, bonobos, low-, highland gorillas had 0 fossils!?), it's not going to change much??

> It's not available in English, at least not on Amazon. You should also do an audio version
> so people can listen as they're stuck in traffic.
> https://librivox.org
> The website isn't working as of this moment, but there is a link to archive.org and the
> audio books there...

:-) Thanks! I'll have a look (but I'm not good in such things).