Looney Palace

Unusual Fossil That Might be a Human Ancestor

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:18 AM PST

It seems that the fossil, dubbed Ida or Darwinius, was found in Germany in 1983 but the claims that this might be the human ancestor was officially revealed on May 21 2009. The fossil is placed within the primate family tree along with other fossil primates. Ida was originally thought to be a primitive lemur, but comparative tests revealed her to have anthropoid features. This indicates that she is a transitional fossil between primitive lemur-like primates and the monkeys, including the human lineage. Dr Jørn Hurum, the Norwegian vertebrate paleontologist from Oslo, said: "This fossil rewrites our understanding of the evolution of primates… It will probably be pictured in all the textbooks for the next 100 years,” and compared its importance to the Mona Lisa". And you, do you believe in this?

human evolution01 Unusual Fossil That Might be a Human Ancestor