100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA 18640

Phone: 570-826-6144
Fax: 570-655-1180

Copyright © 2025 WVIA, all rights reserved. WVIA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Your Inner Fish

How Do We Know When Our Ancestors Lost Their Tails?

Season 1 Episode 3 | 4m 00s

Unlike most other primates, apes don't have a tail. When did our ancestors lose this potentially useful appendage? Paleoanthropologist Holly Dunsworth introduces Neil Shubin to Proconsul, a fossil ape that provides some answers to that question.

Extras
Watch • 54:40
Your Inner Fish
Your Inner Monkey
Find out which beneficial traits our primate progenitors bequeathed us.
Episode: S1 E3 | 54:40
Watch • 0:30
Your Inner Fish
Episode 3: Your Inner Monkey Preview
Find out which traits our primate progenitors bequeathed to us.
Preview: S1 E3 | 0:30
Watch • 54:46
Your Inner Fish
Your Inner Reptile
Learn which parts of our bodies we’ve inherited from our reptilian ancestors.
Episode: S1 E2 | 54:46
Watch • 0:30
Your Inner Fish
Episode 2: Your Inner Reptile - Preview
Learn which parts of our bodies we’ve inherited from our reptilian ancestors.
Preview: S1 E2 | 0:30
Watch • 2:52
Your Inner Fish
Your Aching Back: A Gift from Your Ancient Ancestors
As Bruce Latimer explains, our evolutionary history has some consequences for our back.
Clip: S1 E3 | 2:52
Watch • 3:19
Your Inner Fish
The 500-Million-Year History of the Human Brain
Biologist Peter Holland shows us how much we have in common with a wormy little animal.
Clip: S1 E3 | 3:19
Watch • 4:26
Your Inner Fish
The Human Hand: A Gift from Ancient Primates
Meet an ancient primate with a hand eerily similar to your own.
Clip: S1 E3 | 4:26
Watch • 2:05
Your Inner Fish
Meet Your Cousins: Squirrel Monkeys
Our relationship to living primates can be seen in their anatomy and genes.
Clip: S1 E3 | 2:05
Watch • 4:54
Your Inner Fish
Amazing Places, Amazing Fossils: Lucy
Don Johanson recounts the discovery of an iconic human ancestor in Ethiopia.
Clip: S1 E3 | 4:54
Watch • 4:05
Your Inner Fish
Amazing Places, Amazing Fossils: Tritheledont
Neil Shubin finds a tiny fossil that represents an important time in our evolution.
Clip: S1 E2 | 4:05
Latest Episodes
Watch • 54:40
Your Inner Fish
Your Inner Monkey
Find out which beneficial traits our primate progenitors bequeathed us.
Episode: S1 E3 | 54:40
Watch • 54:46
Your Inner Fish
Your Inner Reptile
Learn which parts of our bodies we’ve inherited from our reptilian ancestors.
Episode: S1 E2 | 54:46
Watch • 55:11
Your Inner Fish
Your Inner Fish
See how the genetic legacy of a fish can be seen today in our own DNA.
Episode: S1 E1 | 55:11