The fossil evidence reveals that the primitive hominoid pattern for positional behavior, as best represented by Proconsul, is that of a generalized quadruped, capable of pronograde quadrupedalism and of some climbing. Specialized behavior, including cursorialism, leaping, brachiation, and substantial suspension, may be ruled out. None of the Miocene fossils can be unequivocably linked to the adaptations of modern apes. Rather, the Proconsul pattern is a suitable ancestral type for all later catarrhines.Plio-Pleistocene hominids are fully bipedal, but many skeletal elements show features of arboreal climbers. Whether these are rudimentary or an essential part of the australopithecine adaptation is currently beyound resolution, but it is apparent that hominid ancestry never achieved effective terrestrial quadrupedalism. Miocene and Pliocene evidence is consistent with a generalized ape model for the last common ancestor, which was unspecialized in locomotion relative to modern hominoids and probably frequently bipedal when on the ground.