Our remote ape-like ancestors would, of course, have been extremely hairy.

But all agree that the family's walk, described as a 'bear crawl', may offer invaluable information on how our ape-like ancestors moved.

Researchers say our ape-like ancestors were capable of producing contrasting vowel sounds, a key element of language.

The later stages of evolution from ape-like ancestors have consisted in the acquisition of a larger brain and in the education of that brain.