The Evolution of Primates and Hominids in the Popular Press

Much publicity has surrounded the publication of information on the fossilised remains of a Palaeogene lemur-like animal.  The phrase “missing link” has once again found its way into the popular media, although from a scientific perspective this particular term is regarded as not valid and indeed often misleading.

The fossil representing the remains of a young, female is from the famous Messel shales, near Frankfurt in southern Germany.  It is regarded as one of the best locations in the world for Eocene fossils, although the importance of this area was not recognised until the early 1970s.  The site was originally an iron ore mine, although later the area was exploited for its coal reserves.

Despite numerous spectacular fossil finds such as crocodiles, early mammals and birds the Messel pits were almost converted into a land fill and rubbish dump but a campaign to save the site and permit further scientific exploration was successful.  It is pleasing to note that the Messel shales area has been purchased by the German Government, in a move that should secure the location and permit more research and long-term scientific study.

Darwinius masillae Discovery

The area is often called “Marvellous Messel” by palaeontologists, this is because of two main reasons, firstly the diversity of fauna and flora represented by the fossil record and secondly because of the exquisite detail preserved in many of the fossils.

The shales at Messel were formed by layers of fine, soft mud at the bottom of a deep, stagnant freshwater lake.  This lake was fed by numerous streams and animal and plant remains washed into the lake quickly sank to the bottom and were slowly covered by sediment.  The still water conditions at the bottom prevented a lot of oxygen building up and crucially the bacteria which normally is responsible for decomposing organic matter was virtually absent.

The remains were largely untouched and as a result the Messel fossils show amazing detail.  Fossils of leaves and insects have been preserved and show remarkable detail.  Many of the larger animals such as miniature horses, bats, and primitive hedgehogs show traces of fur and even the remains of their stomachs can be analysed.

Dating the Fossils

The fossils date from approximately 15 million years after the Cretaceous mass extinction event and the demise of the dinosaurs.  The world is enjoying something of a renaissance with mammals beginning to dominate ecosystems and establish themselves as the main constituents of the mega fauna.  The world is dominated by flowering plants and tropical rainforest.

At its peak, the rainforest stretched from the tips of South America and Africa right up to southern Canada, China and the middle of Europe.  Even the UK basked in a tropical climate.   Scientists believe that the global average temperature during this particular period in the Earth’s history was a balmy 28 degrees Celsius.  This compares to the 14-15 degrees Celsius today.  It is in this hot house like atmosphere that the lemur-like animal and her kind lived out their lives.

Very few fossils of early primates have been found, they are extremely rare in the fossil record.  Indeed much can be said of all the simian and hominid fossils too.  The trouble is our arboreal (tree-dwelling) or open plains ancestors lived in the wrong environments as far as palaeontologists are concerned.  Forests and open grasslands are locations where fossilisation and preservation are most unlikely to occur on any large scale, the conditions are not right to permit rapid burial of any corpse and preservation.

Tree Dwelling Animals

For example, we once calculated that all the skull material from early African hominids could be quite easily stored in one of our small vans.

Despite the vast expanse of rainforest and the abundance of environmental niches in such a habitat for monkeys and primates, only eight fragmentary specimens of primates are known from the Messel shales.  The primitive lemur-like Godinotia (Godinotia neglecta) is one of the better known primates from this period.  It had limbs that were adapted to grasping branches and large orbits in its skull (indicating large eyes).  Perhaps this particular animal was nocturnal.  This would have made sense as at only 30 centimetres long (most of that represented by tail), this animal would have been very vulnerable to attack.

However, the discovery of a new species of primate at Messel, an almost complete specimen; has enabled scientists to learn more about primate evolution and ultimately, although the press always blows this out of proportion, to learn a little more about the origins of man.  Messel has yielded up the almost complete skeleton of another lemur-like creature, a young female probably less than a year old but the completeness of the specimen and the exquisite preservation has permitted scientists to study the beginnings of the primates in much more detail than ever before.

Darwinius masillae

This new primitive creature represents a new genus and has been named Darwinius masillae, quite appropriate as 2009 is so heavily associated with Charles Darwin what with the 200th anniversary of his birth.

The Messel Fossil (Darwinius masillae)

Picture credit: Franzen et al

Like many very special fossils, this specimen has an unusual excavation history.  It was apparently discovered in 1983 by private collectors who decided to split the specimen in half and sold the fossil on separate plates.  Although they had the part and counterpart of the fossil, they thought that more money could be obtained if the part and the counterpart were sold separately.  These specimens ended up in different museum collections.  In addition, in order to enhance the value of one of the plates, it was embellished a little by the restoration team before being offered for sale.

One part of the fossil was sold to a private museum in the USA, the second more complete and entire fossil (including the tip of the animal’s tail), now belongs to the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo (Norway).  Once it was realised that these two specimens were the part and counterpart of each other and that they represent the same specimen, a much more complete and thorough study could be carried out.  Fortunately, x-ray analysis of the American portion of the specimen revealed how much of this fossil had been fabricated, but the two plates together have yielded some remarkable data about early primates.

On Display at the American Museum of Natural History

Both fossils are now on display at the American Museum of Natural History (New York), amidst much fuss over the “missing link”showing our earliest ancestor and all that hyperbole.  No doubt it is a superb specimen, even the outline of fur and stomach contents have been preserved, the study was led by John Hurum of the Natural History Museum (Oslo).

Commenting on the fossil’s completeness he stated that it was “a dream come true” and said that the fossil was “the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor”.

This fossil, like so many others was nick-named during the preparation, she was called “Ida” and although clearly an animal on the road to human evolution with her poseable thumbs and other primate-like characteristics, she does not represent a direct human ancestor, but a sub-branch of our evolutionary tree – a sort of “Aunt Ida” if you will.

Dr Jens Franzen, an expert on Germany’s Messel shales,  stated:

“She belongs to the group from which humans developed, but my impression is she is not on the direct line”.

The fossil does represent the most complete primate discovered to date, although the light and delicate nature of the fossil and the bones having been crushed during the preservation means that individual portions cannot be handled.  Radiographs (x-rays) have revealed a lot of information, for example, the jaw has adult teeth emerging giving an indication of the age of the animal.  The pelvic girdle suggests female and so the scientists studying “Ida” have concluded that she was an independent, fully weaned sub-adult that died in her first year of life.  She did not possess claws but had nails (just like we do) and would have been quite at home in the trees of the Messel rainforest.

Ida was approximately 50 centimetres long, half of this length was made up of the tail.  If she had reached full adult size she would have still weighed less than 2 kilogrammes.  Darwinius masillae is a very significant discovery.  It is the most complete primate fossil found to date and will permit scientists to study her life history, diet and locomotion.  Any future study of early Palaeogene primates will benefit from the work done on “Ida”.

This animal is not just a fossil lemur, the fossil shows no evidence of a grooming claw (toilet claw) or indeed a tooth comb.  The tooth comb, otherwise known as a dental comb is an arrangement of incisor and canine teeth found in the lower jaws of lemurs and other prosimians. The tooth comb is used to help lemurs groom themselves and others in their social group, but Darwinius masillae did not possess these features, placing her amongst a larger group of primates, the Adapoidea.

Unfortunately, we fear that “Ida” will be associated with the phrase “missing link” for a long time to come.   This term is not really valid, as in essence there is no such thing as a specific missing link between species, merely occasional finds of exceptional fossil material that represents transitional forms between genera and species.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website for models and replicas of early hominids and prehistoric mammals: Everything Dinosaur.

Evidence of New Dinosaur Species from Northern Alberta

A new dinosaur species has been described from fossils found in northern Alberta.

When palaeontologists discuss the Late Cretaceous dinosaur discoveries in Alberta, most automatically consider the fantastic fossils that have been found in the south of the Canadian Province, from locations such as the Dinosaur Provincial Park and Drumheller.  However, a team of scientists from the University of Alberta are determined to put the north of Alberta on the dinosaur “hot spot” map.

The Peace River County, approximately 300 miles northwest of the city of Edmonton could benefit from dinosaur tourism if a museum is built in the area to exhibit all the exciting Late Cretaceous fossils being discovered.  With the Royal Tyrrell Museum at Drumheller attracting over 400,000 visitors a year, the local authorities in the northern parts of Alberta hope that the dinosaurs from their part of Canada could one day attract significant numbers of tourists too.

New Dinosaur Species

A team of researchers from the University of Alberta in association with the Palaeontological Society of the Peace (PSP), believe they have discovered at least one new species of dinosaur.  This find coincides with the discovery of a dinosaur nesting site at nearby Grande Prairie, remains of baby dinosaurs were found along with the teeth of dromaeosaurs which probably preyed on the young animals.

Tetsuto Miyashita, a University of Alberta student from Japan, and Frederico Fanti, a palaeontology graduate student from the University of Bologna, Italy, along with members of the Palaeontological Society of the Peace (PSP), made the discovery that indicates dinosaurs nested further north than previously believed.

The nesting site is significant as there is very little evidence of dinosaur nest sites in the fossil record, especially nest site at high northern latitudes.  Only one other part of the world has produced evidence of dinosaurs raising young at such high northern latitudes (Alaska).  The climate in the Late Cretaceous was much warmer than today, but even so the winters would have been long with little daylight and the average summer temperature may have been no more than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

To read more about the dinosaur discoveries in the far north: Chilly Dinosaurs – Dinosaurs did not mind the Cold.

Commenting on the nesting site discovery, Miyashita stated that until this find there had been no significant areas of dinosaur fossils located between southern Alberta and Alaska, these new discoveries will help fill in that gap.

He commented:

“It established [this new site] that dinosaurs were nesting at this high latitude.  Alberta is dinosaur country, but all the dinosaurs we had previously showcased came from the southern part of the province.  Now we’ve showed there is a lot of potential for the northern part as well”.

The significance for the tourist trade in this part of northern Alberta cannot be underestimated, the rugged beauty of the landscape coupled with some Late Cretaceous dinosaur attractions could be a winning combination.

Miyashita added:

“By saying dinosaur country, now you mean the entire province, not only Drumheller and Brooks.  Also this is a high-latitude locality.  The dinosaurs were pushing the climatic limit in Grande Prairie”.

Although the amazing dinosaur finds at sites such as the Dinosaur Provincial Park Formation are known throughout the world, Frederico Fanti pointed out that 70 million years ago much of that area was covered by a warm, shallow sea.  The possibility of finding many more types of dinosaur and other prehistoric animal from the rock strata of northern Alberta is much more exciting he stated.

The young, Italian scientist went onto comment:

“It was a joy to work in the Grande Prairie area verifying the significance of the fossils collected from the Wapiti [geological] Formation.  This small northwest area was basically the only portion of Alberta and Saskatchewan that was above sea level 73 to 75 million years ago, providing habitat for land animals whose remains we collected, studied and described”.

Bert Hunt, a science professor at Grande Prairie Regional College and the programme co-coordinator for the PSP, stated that dinosaurs nesting in northern Alberta showed how different the climate was back in the Cretaceous.  Winter temperatures in northern Alberta can drop to as low as -20 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures rarely exceed 25 degrees Celsius.

Professor Hunt exclaimed:

“The interesting thing is that’s the way the Earth has been for most of its history.  There was no cold, no poles, it was weather suitable for living.  Those animals inhabited every piece of land they could inhabit.  They all had to move and eat and migrate.  They ate a lot and had big bodies they had to feed, so they had to travel to find food”.

The recent discovery occurred in the well-known fossil-rich Kleskun Hills area northeast of Grande Prairie during the 2007 digging season.  Fanti and Miyashita were out with Hunt, PSP president Katalin Ormay and PSP member Sheldon Graber, when Hunt spotted some fossils.  Soon everyone was working on the site, trying to find more material.  The bones have been identified as belonging to newly-hatched herbivorous dinosaurs, they represent animals no bigger than a rabbit, but when fully grown they would have weighed several tonnes.  The dinosaurs are members of the Hadrosauridae family, at least one species, may be new to science.

Dromaeosaurs Present

A number of teeth indicative of the presence of dromaeosaurs were also found.  The scientists believe that these relatively small animals may have been the dominant predators in the far north and would have preyed on the young dinosaurs in the nesting colony.  Perhaps the dromaeosaurs were the Cretaceous equivalent of Arctic foxes.  These animals have a “boom time” in terms of food availability when enormous flocks of Snow Geese arrive to exploit the long daylight hours in order to raise a brood.  For the rest of the year, the foxes have meagre pickings in comparison.

The Italian and Japanese palaeontologists also discovered the bones of freshwater fish and other reptiles (believed to be cold-blooded).  The young scientists believe that this is evidence that this part of northern Alberta had an ecosystem which was a mixture of more hardy species from Alaska mixing with fauna from the warmer south.  Very few Late Cretaceous, non-Dinosauria reptile bones have been found in North America at higher latitudes, indicating that in the north, it was too cold for cold-blooded reptiles.  By studying the climate information and piecing together a picture of life in northern Alberta towards the end of the Mesozoic, the scientists hope to find some answers to the question of how dinosaurs responded to changes in climatic conditions.

This is not the first big dinosaur discovery made in northern Alberta.

Al Lakusta, a Montrose school teacher, stumbled across a new species in a bone bed at Pipestone Creek; a species that would later be named after him – Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai.  As a result of the extensive bone bed discovery, this particular ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) is one of the best known of all the horned dinosaurs of North America.

To view a model of a Pachyrhinosaurus and other horned dinosaur models available from Everything Dinosaur: Horned Dinosaur Models and Other Prehistoric Animal Figures.

Professor Hunt went on to comment that scientists have only scratched the surface as far as the northern dinosaur remains are concerned.

“Probably in this Wapiti Formation that’s up to a kilometre thick around the Grande Prairie area, every single dinosaur, mammal or reptile will be a new species”.

Members of the PSP and local officials have stated that the development of major palaeontological dig sites in the area could provide a huge boost for the local economy.  The creation of a dinosaur attraction such as a museum could be a huge draw for tourists.

When asked about how many fossils the area could provide, Professor Hunt stated that in his opinion they were “sitting on a gold mine”.  The northern Alberta tourist board are hoping that this is indeed the case and that the area will get a much needed boost to its economy from the increase in tourists.

Cyril Walker – 8th February 1939 to 6th May 2009

The Natural History Museum in London is a remarkable institution.  Visitors to the museum marvel at the wonderful exhibits on display in the galleries, but in reality they only see a fraction of the collection.  Indeed, most members of the public are not exposed to the immense amount of academic work carried out by the dedicated scientists, researchers and curators.  The Museum is a bit like an iceberg, only a small portion of the vast body is visible, for example, much of the collection is stored away from the South Kensington location, it is simply too big to store at one location.

Cyril Walker

It was sad to hear of the passing away of Cyril Walker, a palaeontologist and scientist, a dedicated bird watcher and someone who had spent his entire working career at the Natural History Museum.  Cyril Walker joined the museum in 1958 (called in those days, the British Museum), as a scientific assistant.  Through a series of promotions he rose to the position of a senior scientific officer and was appointed curator of fossil birds at the museum.  He retired in 1999.

He is perhaps best known for his seminal work on late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic birds.  He is credited with the discovery and classification of a subclass of primitive birds called the Enantiornithes from fragmentary fossil material excavated in South America.  The Enantiornithes were a part of the ancient bird group the Ornithothoraces, it is believed the Enantiornithines were a Cretaceous radiation of this large group.

Cyril Walker was one of the co-authors who refuted claims made regarding the authenticity of the Archaeopteryx fossils when the fossil evidence of link between dinosaurs and birds was challenged.  Indeed, he had a number of taxa named after him, several birds of course, reflecting his great knowledge in this area but also other animals including a species of mosasaur.

For Natural History Museum dinosaur models and replicas: Natural History Museum Dinosaur Models.