Ancient monkeys may have voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean on rafts

Fossilised monkey teeth unearthed deep within the Peruvian Amazon suggest that ancient monkeys journeyed there from Africa, according to a study at Keck School of Medicine, in Los Angeles.

The fossilised teethand found that it belongs to an extinct family of African primates known as parapithecids. One plausible explanation, according to the team, is that the monkeys made the trip on floating rafts of vegetation that broke off from coastlines, possibly during a storm. At the time, the landmasses of Africa and South America were closer together, which means the voyage may have been about 1,450km (900 miles).