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Topic: Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany (Read 1766 times) |
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letheomaniac
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Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« on: 2009-05-20 07:15:33 » |
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[letheomaniac] Blunderov put me on to this story. He sends greetings and high-fives all the way from sunny Lagos, Nigeria. 
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com
Author: Brian Handwerk
Dated: 18/5/2009
"MISSING LINK" PHOTOS: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?
Meet "Ida," the small "missing link" fossil that's created a big media splash and will likely continue to make waves among those who study human origins.
In a new book, documentary, and promotional Web site, paleontologist Jorn Hurum, who led the team that analyzed the 47-million-year-old fossil seen above, suggests Ida is a critical "missing link" species in primate evolution.
The fossil, he says, bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs.
"This is the first link to all humans," Hurum, of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, said in a statement. Ida represents "the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor."
Ida, properly known as Darwinius masillae, has a unique anatomy. The lemur-like skeleton features primate-like characteristics, including grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs.
"This specimen looks like a really early fossil monkey that belongs to the group that includes us," said Brian Richmond, a biological anthropologist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the study.
But there's a big gap in the fossil record from this time period, Richmond noted. Researchers are unsure when and where the primate group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans split from the other group of primates that includes lemurs.
"[Ida] is one of the important branching points on the evolutionary tree," Richmond said, "but it's not the only branching point."
At least one aspect of Ida is unquestionably unique: her incredible preservation, unheard of in specimens from the Eocene era, when early primates underwent a period of rapid evolution. (Explore a prehistoric time line.)
"From this time period there are very few fossils, and they tend to be an isolated tooth here or maybe a tailbone there," Richmond explained. "So you can't say a whole lot of what that [type of fossil] represents in terms of evolutionary history or biology."
In Ida's case, scientists were able to examine fossil evidence of fur and soft tissue and even picked through the remains of her last meal: fruits, seeds, and leaves.
What's more, the newly described fossil was unearthed in Germany's Messel Pit. Ida's European origins are intriguing, Richmond said, because they could suggest—contrary to common assumptions—that the continent was an important area for primate evolution.
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Hermit
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #1 on: 2009-05-21 02:44:37 » |
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It is very significant - but perhaps not as significant as it is being hyped to be. Please refer to Poor, poor Ida, Or: "Overselling an Adapid". Pharyngula seems to concur with this opinion.
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Hermit&Co
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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letheomaniac
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #2 on: 2009-05-21 04:12:54 » |
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[letheomaniac] Thanks for the link Hermit!  The phenomenon described in "Overselling an Adapid" is pure capitalism in action - 'we found something really cool, so let's try make a few quick bucks off it. We'll print T-shirts and fridge magnets and everything!'. Still, if you strip away the crass sales pitch and the sour academic in-fighting, it's still a very interesting find. Quite cute really.
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letheomaniac
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #4 on: 2009-05-26 08:29:28 » |
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[letheomaniac] LOL! This had to happen I guess... 
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"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." - Dorothy Parker
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Hermit
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #5 on: 2009-05-26 14:25:17 » |
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Letheomaniac: O Noez! LOL
Blunderov: Glad to hear they haven't yet succeeded in stealing you totally blind. Be well and return soon.
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(PS asked Lucifer to reset your account and mail you a password).
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #8 on: 2009-06-10 18:37:50 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2009-06-10 17:59:08
[Blunderov] Indeed. The detail - fins, fur, feathers etc. Absolutely wow.
For 10 points; name the author of the following comments on creationism.
"Get this, I actually asked one of these guys: OK, dinosaur fossils – how does that fit into your scheme of life? Let me sit down and strap in. He said, "Dinosaur fossils? God put those there to test our faith." Thank God I'm strapped in right now here, man. I think God put you here to test my faith, dude. You believe that? "Uh-huh."
Does that trouble anyone here? The idea that God ... might be ... fucking with our heads? I have trouble sleeping with that knowledge. Some prankster God running around: "Hu hu ho. We will see who believes in me now, ha ha. I am God, I am a prankster. I am killing Me." You know, you die and go to St. Peter:
"Did you believe in dinosaurs?" "Well, yeah. There were fossils everywhere.
"Aaaaaaarhhh!" "You fucking idiot! Flying lizards? You're a moron. God was fucking with you!"
"It seemed so plausible...
"ahhhh!" "Enjoy the lake of fire, fucker!""
◦Revelations (1990's comedy routine)
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the.bricoleur
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making sense of change
 
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Re:Missing link between apes, humans & lemurs found in Germany
« Reply #9 on: 2009-06-12 19:40:46 » |
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It is your new favourite Bl.
:)
Bill Hicks
-iolo
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