Fossil may be ancestor of humans, apes

[dhinojosa]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/18/great.apes/index.html


(CNN) -- Scientists in Spain announced Thursday that they've unearthed a 13 million-year-old fossilized skeleton of an ape that is possibly a common ancestor of humans and great apes, including orangutans, bonobos, chimps and gorillas.

The find could add a yet another branch to the human family tree and fill in a gap in our knowledge of hominoid evolution.

"It's very special," said Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta. "It's almost as if we will have to redraw the (evolutionary) tree if these discoveries keep coming out."

Salvador Moya-Sola of the Miguel Crusafont Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues describe the species, which they have named Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, in the November 19 issue of the journal Science.

"The importance of this new fossil is that for the first time all the key areas that define modern great apes are well-preserved," Moya-Sola said in a statement. Fossils of apes are extremely rare and do not fossilize well because they are often in forests, where bones tend to decay.

Yet de Waal cautioned against making conclusions about whether this new fossil is a route on the road to human evolution.

"Its spectacular to have new information on this," he said. "But (human evolution) is not a straight line, it's has an enormous number of side branches."

Researchers think great apes diverged from lesser apes, which are gibbons and siamangs, about 11 million to 16 million years ago. Fossils from that geological epoch, called the middle Miocene, are fairly rare. Scientists believe humans diverged from the living great apes about 6 million years ago.

The searchers say it could be that Pierolapithecus is not itself the last common ancestor of the great apes, but rather a close relative of that animal.

Study of the fossilized bones suggest Pierolapithecus was a tree climber, with a stiff lower spine, and a specially adapted rib cage and wrist bones. However, its short fingers suggest it did not do a lot of hanging from branches.

The bones were found near Barcelona after a bulldozer clearing land at a dig site turned up a tooth. Study of the fossils suggests the ape was male, weighed about 75 pounds, and ate fruit.

And while the bones were found in Spain, Moya-Sola suspects the species also lived in Africa.

Only four species of great apes -- orangutans, bonobos, gorillas and chimpanzees -- exist today. All of them are endangered due to hunting and habitat loss.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Some are closer to that ancestor than others....

Just look at the White House.

[rurallib]

2. Not a possible link

Them in the WH were created by God, by god. Don't you ferget it!

[Liberal Veteran]

3. God made batshit too.....it doesn't make it special.

:)

[htuttle]

11. I happen to think bat guano is quite special

But it's a hell of a lot more useful than Dubya!

[Bullshot]

15. Don't even think of it! GOD made man. None of this evolution crap!

<sarcasm off>

Betcha you don't hear that news on the 700 Club.

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Nonsense. Bush is not a great ape.

He's not even a very good ape.

[jus_the_facts]

4. can't believe this type of article is seein' the light o' day......

....since the powers that BE believe in the POOF theology instead of the PROOF ideology.....SIGH! :evilfrown:

[steely]

7. Amen - no pun intended

Joking aside, it's astounding that they initially found/saw/discovered a tooth during a construction dig.

[VegasWolf]

8. "poof theology", very clever!

[jus_the_facts]

12. Thank you.....

....I have zero tolerance for that tripe....as I was *blessed* with a BIG BRAIN...to logically and rationally go about findin' PROOF of my existance...not blindly believe in fantastical *FAITH* folly!! :grr:

[Seabiscuit]

16. I was born OK the first time. Only pea-brains need to be "born again"

... and then their brains continue to shrink (only *they* don't realize it).

BTW, if we wait until 2008 to take our country back it may be too late:

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." - Abraham Lincoln

[Comadreja]

20. A second passage through birth canal

would require that the skull be smashed and the brains reduced in size or scrambled beyond all recovery. This would pretty much prepare the mind to vote for Chimpy.

[delete_bush]

5. upon closer examination it was determined

that the fossil was, in fact, Strom Thurmond.

[GCP]

6. THEY'RE ALL WRONG

God buried those bones 7000 years ago when he made the earth. (Just to make us doubt him).

[Anakin Skywalker]

9. Oh NO! NO!

You are breaking the fundies' hearts! STOP IT! :)

[VegasWolf]

10. It's aggressive, yet totally inane behavior, of the chimp in the

picture reminds me of someone. trying to put my finger
on it ...

[PsychoDad]

13. Add to that...

orangutans, bonobos, gorillas and chimpanzees -- exist today. All of them are endangered due to hunting and habitat loss.

Humans are pretty damned endangered too...

[Lizzie Borden]

23. Humans are too stoopid to know this.

[Lizzie Borden]

24. Humans are too stoopid to know this.

[ScrewyRabbit]

14. When they report this in Wisconsin they'll have to put a sticker

on the story: "Evolution is just a theory."

[many a good man]

18. Family portrait

[yellowcanine]

19. A striking resemblence to Jerry Falwell, don'tcha think?

The eyes in particular.

[Lizzie Borden]

25. Now THAT is an insult to apes everywhere!

[reprobate]

26. Don't you dare label it "Madonna and Child". That's sacrilege.

[many a good man]

27. I almost did!

Strictly for the pose. Thankfully I was able to muster some restraint and tact. Besides, the allegory doesn't really fit...

[Moderator]

21. dhinojosa

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.

Thank you.

DU Moderator

[pinniped]

22. Heretics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The Earth is only 6,000 years old!

If these fossilized remains are 13 million-years old, what planet did they live on?

Some alien life form must have dropped them remains off here.