A primate jawbone found in Namibia in southern Africa has been identified by anthropologists as that of an ape that lived between 10 million and 15 million years ago  Researchers generally agree that such ancient primates lived only in dense forests
Consequently, the dry, treeless expanses now dominating the landscape in and around Namibia must have replaced an earlier, heavily forested terrain
The ancient primates were numerous enough to have caused severe damage to the ecology of the forests in which they lived.