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Malevolence

"MISSING LINK" FOUND: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?

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May 19, 2009—Meet "Ida," the small "missing link" found in Germany 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 (interactive guide to human evolution from National Geographic magazine).

 

(Among the team members was University of Michigan paleontologist Philip Gingerich, a member of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.)

 

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, published this week in the journal PLoS ONE.

 

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 "missing link" was found 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.

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...link-found.html

 

Check this interesting discovery! I hope not to see bible fans flaming on evolution here though.

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Yeah saw it too, not really that important :P

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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.

Being so exceptionally unique makes me suspicious about this. It wouldn't be the first time such a significant discovery turned out to be a hoax.

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I think I heard that they've been studying it for two years now though so I would hope they could distinguish it to be a hoax in that period of time.

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I did a little research, it would seem you are right, which really means this is old news. Seems they let the media at it and, as usual, they like to exaggerate and glorify things. Apparently as of yet, there is no real evidence that this fossil has any relevance to humans which means that this is nothing more than an interesting animal.

Ultimately though, I'll have to side with Inferno here, not really that important.

Edited by Nmenth

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I saw this on the news on TV last week. I laughed then and I'm laughing now. Hoax or not its such a waste of time and money searching for and digging up old **** like this to study it. Who cares about the past and where we all came from. Put the same time and money to improving our lives now right here in the present day and for the future.

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if Human evolve from apes, why there still a lot of apes around huh?

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if Human evolve from apes, why there still a lot of apes around huh?

Is that supposed to be a joke? Because as far as questioning evolution goes, that's a shaky point at best. As an ever changing theory, there are sufficient flaws to devise better arguments than that without too much trouble.

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depend on how you view it. just a point to ponder...

after all, why only we evolved to this stage & why other primates are not?

 

why only Human acquired such intelligent? why not bird or fish (apart from food gathering method & communication)?

 

..and entirely, evolution is a joke to me. coz i'm not a monkey.

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There were other primates that evolved like us. But they didn't make it for a multitude of reasons. Whilst evolution has plenty of flaws and doesn't exactly explain everything. As a general concept it makes sense. As opposed to that, "Intelligent Design"...

 

As for the discovery itself, yeah its nice to know where we came from and such. But at the same time, I'm not that terribly interested.

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if Human evolve from apes, why there still a lot of apes around huh?

If we originated in Africa then evolved melanin concentrations to suit local conditions in Europe and on other continents then why are there still black people? See I can make ****ty half-assed uninformed half-science opinions with no backing too.

 

Evolution and natural selection are dependent on localities. A bird species split into two groups in China and in South America will not evolve the same way or at the same time or speed.

 

Learn the science before you try to counter it and maybe people will actually take you seriously. There's nothing worse than an ignorant uninformed person trying to make a logical argument about something they know nothing about. Well actually there is something worse and that is a person who knows just enough to think they know more than they really do, and for them to fabricate half-truths and false-logics.

 

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.

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Do all of you believe in evolution? Just wondering.

Edited by Malevolence

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If we originated in Africa then evolved melanin concentrations to suit local conditions in Europe and on other continents then why are there still black people? See I can make ****ty half-assed uninformed half-science opinions with no backing too.

 

bcoz the white-skinned-slave-traders brought the black people from Africa back to their country?

 

after all, you still can see 'em in African country.

 

believe what you want dude, like I said..point to ponder.

 

 

think about it...if you & I evolved from the African people...then monkey evolved to human, happens earlier than that.

well, draw your own time line.

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Do all of you believe in evolution? Just wondering.

Nope. I'm not going to argue with anybody about what they believe, though. >_>

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Do all of you believe in evolution? Just wondering.

What is this, a jump from spammer to troll? Asking a question like that serves no purpose.

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Nope. I'm not going to argue with anybody about what they believe, though. >_>

 

Well, Just asking, should have ask that before discussing this topic. For those firm non believers this topic would simply be some flaming session, or nicely put, criticizing this news as BS.

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i think that sonics right on this one, why waste time and money on past when we can have a better future

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Nmenth play nice, he didn't mean it to be offensive.

 

 

I think its nice to know where we came from. Gives the whole human experience more meaning. :)

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Saw the Colbert Report on this, it was great, he had a clip of some scientist saying "This isn't our grand-grand-grand-grand grandmother, it's more like out grand-grand-grand-grand-grand aunt" and then someone photoshopped it onto a picture of some old lady as Colbert is saying "I have a grand-grand-grand-grand-grand aunt and she does not look anything like that, I'll look for the clip

 

EDIT: http://media.mtvnservices.com/global/apps/....net&geo=US

that's the entire show, it has it in clips, the clip after the intro is the clip I'm talking about, it's hilarious

Edited by mormreed

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Steve's the man. What a funny show.

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I think its nice to know where we came from. Gives the whole human experience more meaning. :)

This ^

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i think that sonics right on this one, why waste time and money on past when we can have a better future

 

In order to have a better future, one has to understand the past.

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i do not agree with that at all, in order to have a better future we must not dwell on the past, but look on to the future that we could have and set about acheiving it

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Kane - "He who controls the past commands the future, He who commands the future, conquers the past."

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In order to have a better future, one has to understand the past.

47 years, yes. 470 years, yes. 47 million years, no.

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