A silverback mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) on the move FLPA / Alamy

Our ape ancestors might have been more versatile than we’ve given them credit for. A study of modern gorillas suggests that the common ancestor we share with them may have been able to walk in a variety of ways, not just one or two.

Within the last 20 million years, our ancestors split from those of orangutans. Later, we also branched off from the African great apes: first gorillas, then chimpanzees and bonobos. However, we do not know what our common ancestors with these species …