Tiny Fossil AnimalFossil bones of an animal no bigger than a shrew and weighing less than an ounce have been identified as belonging to the earliest known relative in the primate lineage that led to monkeys, apes and humans. The wee animal lived 45 million years ago in a humid rain forest in what is now China... The paleontologists who announced the discovery yesterday said the fossil animals, named Eosimias for "dawn monkey," were the best evidence yet for fixing the time and place of one of the more fateful branchings in evolution. Eosimias appeared to be a transitional figure when lower primates, known as prosimians, went their separate way, developing into today's lemurs, lorises, bush babies and tarsiers, while the diverging higher primates, anthropoids, evolved into more prepossessing creatures, eventually including human beings... scatterings of fossils point to the earliest primates of any kind appearing about 55 million years ago, mainly in Asia. But when the two lines of primates diverged had seemed to be lost in the wide gaps in the fossil record... This was further evidence that, although the more immediate human forebears arose in Africa, their earliest primate ancestors appeared to come from Asia. Somehow primates then migrated to Africa. Dr. MacPhee said the Euroasian origin of primates was now generally accepted by scientists, "thanks in part to Beard's work," but "why that should be is itself controversial now."
May Link Lower Primates
With Humans
by John Noble Wilford
March 16, 2000The Scars of Evolution:"The most remarkable aspect of Todaro's discovery emerged when he examined Homo Sapiens for the 'baboon marker'. It was not there... Todaro drew one firm conclusion. 'The ancestors of man did not develop in a geographical area where they would have been in contact with the baboon. I would argue that the data we are presenting imply a non-African origin of man millions of years ago.'"
What Our Bodies Tell Us
About Human Origins
by Elaine MorganApe culture hints at earlier evolutionThe complex behaviour of orangutans suggests human culture started to develop 14 million years ago, much earlier than thought. At this time the ancestors of chimps and orangutans diverged... Professor Van Schaik warned though that political unrest and habitat destruction could prevent further studies.
BBC News Online
Some of my best friends are Texas primates