New Skull Fossil Surprises Scientists
Posted on: Wednesday, 16 May 2007, 12:00 CDT
A complete fossil skull of an ancient relative of humans, apes and monkeys is surprising U.S. primatologists.
The second and most intact cranium of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis was identified by Duke University researcher Elwyn Simons, who said it provides striking evidence that humans' remote ancestor was less mentally advanced than expected.
Because of the new specimen's remarkable wholeness, Simons and colleagues were able to subject it to a computerized X-ray scanning technique to calculate the approximate dimensions of the brain the cranium once encased.
Based on previous fossils collected at the same dig site in a quarry near Cairo, scientists had hypothesized the early monkey would have had a relatively large brain, said Simons, a professor of biological anthropology and anatomy.
But the researchers' new report suggests the species had a brain that might have been even smaller than that of a modern lemur's.
This means the big-brained monkeys and apes developed their large brains at a later point in time, said Simons, who reported his team's findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: United Press International
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