A top-level international team of scientists, led by palaeontologist Dr Jorn Hurum of Oslo University's National History Museum, has unveiled an almost perfectly preserved ancient primate fossil that is being hailed as a crucial 'missing link' between the evolutionary branch of human life and the rest of the animal kingdom.
Named Ida, the 4- million-year-old primate fossil will purportedly allow scientists to better understand early stages of primate evolution. At 95% complete, Ida is believed by the researchers to be the best preserved primate fossil ever discovered, reportedly because of the unique location where she died--at Messel pit--a famous fossil site found in Germany.
Reports say that Ida was discovered by an amateur fossil hunter in the summer of 1983; he in turn kept her for over two decades before selling her to Hurum and his team, via a German fossil trader. They've worked on Ida in secret until this week's announcement.
'This will be the one pictured in the textbooks for the next hundred years,' Hurum reportedly said of Ida. 'It tells a part of our evolution that's been hidden so far. It's been hidden because the only [other] specimens are so incomplete and so broken there's nothing almost to study.' The fossil has been formally named Darwinius masillae, in honour of the 200th birthday year of Charles Darwin, whose seminal 1859 book On the Origin of Species established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature
The team of researcher believes Ida dates to the time when the primate lineage--which eventually diversified into monkeys, apes and humans -- split from a separate group that went on to become lemurs and other less well known primate species.
Ida has been sent to America for a grand unveiling ceremony to be hosted New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. She will then travel to the London National History Museum, before heading back to Oslo.
Speaking on his initial thoughts about Ida, Hurum told a UK daily that his 'heart started beating extremely fast' and that he 'knew that the dealer had a world sensation in his hands'. About her appeal, Hurum reportedly said, 'You need an icon or two in a museum to drag people in. This is our Mona Lisa and it will be our Mona Lisa for the next 100 years.'
It's unknown how much the museum paid for her, but Ida's original asking price was $1 million (about 4.7 crore).
