Fossil Find Shakes Up Evolution Timeline

(NEWSER) - Scientists have discovered the oldest intact primate fossil on record, ABC News reports. Nicknamed “Ida,” the 47-million-year-old lemur-like creature had opposable thumbs, fingernails instead of claws, and legs that could have evolved to walk upright. Scientists don’t think Ida is a direct ancestor of humans, though. “We are not dealing with our grand, grand grandmother,” one said, “but perhaps with our grand, grand, grand aunt.” More»

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

(NEWSER) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens, as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner a neighbor to Homo erectus rather than an evolutionary forerunner. More»

Sabre-tooth tiger, more unearthed

(NEWSER) - It didn’t take an archaeological expedition to unearth California’s oldest saber-toothed cat skeleton—it took a crew of construction workers, who were trying to break ground on a new substation for Riverside County. And that’s not all they found. The workers had stumbled upon a “treasure trove” of fossils that has paleontologists giddy, the LA Times reports. More»

Mystery dinosaur offers link to first birds

(NEWSER) - It had a mysterious hump over its pelvis and feather-attachment bumps on its forearms: Meet the newly discovered Concavenator corcovatus, a dinosaur scientists hope will offer clues about the emergence of the first birds. Paleontologists unearthed the dino, a member of the theropod family, in central Spain. And while its feather-attachment bumps closely resemble those found in modern birds, it is not closely related to any previously known birds or feathered dinosaurs. More»

Carved bones found in Africa show Stone Age began a million years earlier

(NEWSER) - It turns out that human ape Australopithecus afarensis Lucy likely used some kind of stone knife to eat meat 800,000 years earlier than previously thought, which has suddenly cast human history in a new light. The discovery of fossil animal bones showing evidence of being butchered 3.4 million years ago means the Stone Age began nearly a million years earlier than now calculated. "This find will force us to revise our text books on human evolution, since it pushes the evidence for tool use and meat eating in our family back by nearly a million years," said Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged of the California Academy of Sciences. More»