4 replies to this topic

[simple simon]

Anyone know the word 'Reptoid'? (my thoughts on this - just look at that dinosaur-like facial shape).

Follow the link to see the images...

Simon

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

http://tinyurl.com/oe8dgd


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.

[skylark]

simple simon, on May 21 2009, 10:20 PM, said:

Anyone know the word 'Reptoid'? (my thoughts on this - just look at that dinosaur-like facial shape).

Follow the link to see the images...

Simon

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

http://tinyurl.com/oe8dgd


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.

*'Sweeps' NOTE:

…Oh Yeah…wondered when someone would get 'round to Posting this', 'All the Scientific/Media SPIN' on this one folks. Since this fossilized creature found in Germany didn't have the commonest features of a Lemur…like a tooth comb or grooming claw, it could be argued that it gave rise to monkeys, apes and humans, which don't have these features either. OR…it could be argued that 'it doesn't matter'. But the 'Hype' about this will go on for decades, because

Humans…while defending their turf and personal/Academic territories i.e. their Egos…really 'Don't know the 1^st thing'. Take that or 'Lump it'/'S'

The discovery has…little bearing on a separate paleontological debate centering on the identity of a common ancestor of chimps and humans, which could have lived about six million years ago and still hasn't been found. That gap in the evolution story is colloquially referred to as the 'missing link' controversy. In reality…all gaps in the fossil record are technically 'missing links…until filled in, and many scientists say the term is meaningless.

 MISSING_LINK_PHOTO.jpg   24.71K   13 downloads

Conclusion:
Scientists won't necessarily agree about the details either. 'Lemur advocates OF COURSE will be delighted'…by the new evidence, says Tim White, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley. ACTUALLY Folks, 'The debate will persist and persist and persist'. But thanks Simon for the Topic/'S'

[simple simon]

well Sweeps, we humans are genetically engineered beings, and thats such a big story that even if it is known officially it is simply too much for the present establishment to discuss with the rest of us... I mean, by whom? and what, in test tubes? And how would this affect the established religious (dis)order?

In many ways it could be asked which is a bigger 'hot' and 'no-no' topic that is not for public consumption - at any price... - the withholding of zero point energy, this topic, or that 'we are not alone'?

Simon (finally able to see your msg - I assume that my browser was not refreshing its cached copy when i tried earlier)

[Seth Haniel]

I always laugh at the term 'Missing Link'
I was brought up with the understanding that that you had ape like then human but there was a missing link between
now "Scientist" have us believe it was Apes - then a small Lemur - then human

or am I missing something

[skylark]

Seth Haniel, on May 22 2009, 11:47 AM, said:

I always laugh at the term 'Missing Link'
I was brought up with the understanding that that you had ape like then human but there was a missing link between
now "Scientist" have us believe it was Apes - then a small Lemur - then human

or am I missing something

*'Sweeps' NOTE:
…Hey Seth and All,

Have to agree…very confusing/mis-direction/& more 'Fuzziness' from the 'TREE' experts. Whatever that means?

SOOOO…what does Ida's anatomy tell us about her place on the family tree of humans and other primates? The fact that she retains primitive features that commonly occurred among all early primates, such as simple incisors rather than a full-fledged toothcomb, indicates that Ida belongs somewhere closer to the base of the tree than living lemurs do.

But this does not make Ida a close relative of anthropoids…the group of primates that includes monkeys, apes…and humans. In order to establish that connection, Ida would have to have anthropoid-like features that evolved after anthropoids split away from lemurs and other early primates. Here…alas NOT…Ida fails miserably.

So, Ida is not a 'missing link'…at least not between anthropoids and more primitive primates. Further study may reveal her to be a missing link between other species of Eocene adapiforms…but this hardly solidifies her status as the 'eighth wonder of the world'.

Instead...Ida is a remarkably complete specimen that can maybe teach us a great deal about the biology of some of the earliest and least human-like of all known primates…the Eocene adapiforms/'S'