A recent discovery at the Messel Shale Pit near Frankfurt, Germany might re-write human evolution. This beautiful and very well preserved fossil is of an early primate ancestor of modern day monkeys and humans. The fossil itself is about the size of a small monkey and despite missing its left leg, it's in remarkable condition. It's so detailed that they can make out the fur and even the stomach contents from its last meal (which appears to be the world's first fruit cake).
This discovery will hopefully solve a scientific debate over whether our we evolved from the branch known as tarsidae, which includes the modern day tarsiers in Asia, or the adapidae branch, whose modern descendant includes the lemurs in Madagascar. This discovery of this early adapid, appears to show that perhaps we evolved from from lemur branch instead of the currently more popular belief that we evolved from tarsier branch.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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