Ida Causes Evolutionary Stir

Ida may be the missing link between humans and lemurs

A 47-million-year-old fossil named "Ida" found in Germany may provide the missing link needed to bridge the evolutionary split between lemurs and higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans. Paleontologist Jorn Hurum of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, who lead the team that analyzed the fossil, said in a statement that “this is the first link to all humans, the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor.”

She may not impress a “payday loans direct lender”

Formally known as Darwinius masillae, Ida has a unique lemur-like skeleton with primate-like features, including grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs. While these things are assuredly advanced qualifications for any primate, they clearly do not meet the job and income requirements of an easy payday loan.

But Ida has anthropologists wrapped around her clawless digit

In a National Geographic article, Brian Richmond, a biological anthropologist at George Washington University not involved in the study, states that Ida “looks like a really early fossil monkey that belongs to the group that includes us.” Richmond also notes, however, that this discovery "is one of the important branching points on the evolutionary tree, but it’s not the only branching point.” There is still a large gap in the fossil record and researchers remain unsure when and where the primate group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans split from the other primate group that includes lemurs.

Ida belongs to the Eocene era, a geological time when early primates were evolving very rapidly. Discovered in Germany's Messel Pit, Ida's European origins may suggest (contrary to prevailing assumptions) that Europe was an important area for primate evolution. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Ida Causes Evolutionary Stir"