Thursday, October 22, 2009

'Missing Link' Primate Fossil Debunked

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer The 47 million-year-old fossilized remains of a creature known as Ida are shown during a news conference at the American Museum of Natural History. Although this fossil discovery was trumpeted as the
Remember Ida, the fossil discovery announced last May with its own book and TV documentary? A publicity blitz called it "the link" that would reveal the earliest evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans.

In fact, Ida is as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be, says Erik Seiffert of Stony Brook University in New York.

The new analysis says Darwinius does not belong in the same primate category as monkeys, apes and humans. Instead, the analysis concluded, it falls into the other major grouping, which includes lemurs.

Experts agreed.

LINK

Via: Discovery Channel

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