Word: ramapithecus
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...head well-used can change the world, some say, but rarely has this proved more true than in the case of a ramapithecus skuli David Pilbeam, professor of Anthropology, discovered during a 1980 expedition to Pakistan...
...years' examination of the fossil have confirmed that ramapithecus--traditionally thought to be the ancestor of human beings--is really the evolutionary father of the orangutan. The discovery leaves a 14-million-year gap in knowledge about man's lineage...
...sunny day in Africa 10 million years ago, give or take a few million, Mr. and Mrs. Ramapithecus and their children were out foraging for food. Like their primate cousins in the forest, they usually swung gracefully from limb to limb searching out nuts, fruits and berries. But this day was different. A fierce rainstorm had knocked all their favorites off the branches, and the Ramas, alas, were forced to descend from the trees to find something...
...forest was too far off for a dash to safety. So, in an inspired gesture, Ramapithecus reached for a rock with both forefeet, reared back on his hind legs and heaved the stone at the predator. Startled to see this usually four-footed prey erect, the tiger cautiously retreated. But the ape-man's triumph was costly. Unaccustomed to the abrupt, upright position, he was left doubled over in agony with a piercing pain in his lower back...
...there is little doubt that, when man's ancestors first learned to stand on hind legs, they exposed themselves to aches in the back that have been plaguing their descendants ever since. Today Ramapithecus' spinal distress is experienced millions of times a day around the world. Indeed, after headaches, pain in the back-usually the lower -is man's most common and intractable physical complaint. It is also the object of intensive investigation by doctors into new ways of curing this most ancient of ailments...