“Missing Link” Found: Darwinius masillae, aka Ida, Is A 47 Million-year-old Primate Fossil That Could Validate Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Posted May 20, 2009 by Lindsay Britney
A key fossil proof has long lacked to support Naturalist Great Charles Darwin’s much accepted Theory of Evolution that monkeys, apes and the humankind once might be linked to the same ancestors. The missing link is believed to have been found! Thanks to a 47 million-year-old primate fossil called Ida.
Officially known as Darwinius masillae, Ida is a lemur-like creature living during the Lutetian stage of the Eocene Epoch. Ida’s fossilized skeleton was recovered in 1983 from the Messel pit, Frankfurt Germany. Ida’s primate-like characteristics included grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs.
Scientists say the cat-sized animal’s hind legs offer evidence of evolutionary changes that led to primates standing upright – a breakthrough that could finally confirm Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Ida was unveiled by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a team of paleontologists in a ceremony held at the American Museum of Natural History yesterday in New York City.
“This specimen is like finding the Lost Ark for archeologists,” Norwegian paleontologist Jorn Hurum of Univeristy of Oslo who is the lead scientist. “It is the scientific equivalent of the Holy Grail. This fossil will probably be the one that will be pictured in all textbooks for the next 100 years.”
Sources: Missing link found? Scientists unveil fossil of 47 million-year-old primate, Darwinius masillae & NYDN.com, Darwinius masillae Wikipedia, TheLink Who Is Ida?
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May 27, 2009 at 10:26 am
this is soooooooooo stupid, who would want to learn about a stupid dinosoaur, really stupid
May 27, 2009 at 10:34 am
french fries, are you an anti-Darwinism guy?