Scientists announce the discovery of a 47-million-year-old primate fossil that is set to revolutionize our understanding of human evolution. THE LINK Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor Little, Brown and Company, May 20, 2009
May 19, 2009, NEW YORK, NY—Scientists have announced today the discovery of a 47-
million-year-old human ancestor. Discovered in the Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil is twenty
times older than most fossils that explain human evolution. Known as “Ida,” the fossil is a
transitional species, showing characteristics of the very primitive nonhuman evolutionary line
(prosimians, such as lemurs), but even more closely those of the human evolutionary line
(anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes, and humans). This places Ida at the very root of anthropoid
evolution—when primates were first developing the features that would evolve into our own.
The scientists’ findings are published today by PLoS One, the open-access journal of the Public
Library of Science.
Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, will publish THE LINK,
by Colin Tudge, on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. The book will reveal in full detail the entire
story of the discovery, excavation, and preservation, and the revolutionary significance of
Ida. THE LINK begins with a foreword by Norwegian fossil scientist Dr. Jørn Hurum of
the University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum, who for the past two years has led an
international team of scientists as they secretly conducted a detailed forensic analysis of the
extraordinary fossil, studying the data to decode humankind’s ancient origins. At 95
percent complete, Ida is set to revolutionize our understanding of human evolution.
Unlike Lucy and other famous primate fossils found in Africa’s Cradle of Mankind, Ida is a
European fossil, preserved in Germany’s Messel Pit, a mile-wide crater whose oil-rich shale is a
significant site for fossils of the Eocene Epoch. Fossil analysis reveals that the prehistoric
primate was a young female. Opposable big toes and nails rather than claws confirm that the
fossil is a primate, and the presence of a talus bone in the foot links Ida directly to humans.
The fossil also features the complete soft body outline as well as the gut contents. A herbivore,
Ida feasted on fruits, seeds, and leaves. X-rays reveal both baby and adult teeth, and the lack of a
“toothcomb,” which is an attribute of lemurs. The scientists estimate Ida’s age when she died to
be approximately nine months, and she measured approximately two feet in length.
An interactive, content-rich website about Ida has been launched at
www.revealingthelink.com.
The full scientific findings from the study are set out in the paper “Complete primate skeleton
from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: morphology and paleobiology,” published by
PLoS One, the Public Library of Science’s interactive open-access journal for the
communication of peer-reviewed scientific and medical research (
www.plosone.org).
**all of the above information was taken from
here.
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