Ida Fossil : Jorn Hurum and the Primate Fossil Science Says Could be the 'Missing Link' in Human Evolution

Picture: Ida the "missing link" in human evolution primate fossil.

Naming the fossil after his 6-year-old daughter Ida, Dr Jorn Hurum of Norway may go down in history as one of the most important Paleontologists ever, if his Ida fossil ends up being an important 'missing link' in ancient human ancestry.

The Ida Fossil, a 47 million year old primate, is being billed as the specimen "set to revolutionize our understanding of human evolution."

Ida is the most complete primate fossil ever recovered, lead scientist Jorn Hurum said.

Ida fossil, picture.

Presented at a news conference held in New York by the History Channel cable TV network, University of Oslo and the Senckenberg Research Institute, "Ida" is seen as a "transitional species between "very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs) and the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans)."

Dr Jorn Hurum, the man who helped bring some of the best scientists in the world to study Ida the fossil, he named the 75-million year old primate after his daughter.

"Ida is placed at the very root of anthropoid evolution -- when primates were first developing the features that would evolve into our own. The scientists' findings are published today by PLoS One, the open source journal of the Public Library of Science," says PR newswire.

The Ida fossil was discovered in 1983 in the famous Messel Pit, Germany, near Frankfurt. Ida had only been until recently in the hands of private collections, but Dr John Hurum was able to negotiate to bring the fossil to Norway for study at his institute.

A 'dream team' of international scientists including Dr. Holly Smith, Dr. Jens Franzenbeen, Prof. Philip Gingerich and Dr Jorg Habersetzer, have been working together to study Ida for the past two years.

Fossil analysis by the Norway dream team revealed that the ancient primate was a young female with opposable big toes and nails instead of claws, confirming that the fossil is indeed a primate.

Crucially it is Ida's ankle that links the old fossil to humans. Ida's talus bone is the same shape as ours only smaller. In addition to the "beautiful' 95% complete skeleton, measuring approximately three feet in length, the fossil also features the complete soft body outline as well as the gut contents; an herbivore. Analysis of "Ida" says she fed on fruits, seeds and leaves before she died.

X-rays by the research team revealed that Ida had both baby and adult teeth, but also the lack of a "toothcomb" or a "toilet claw" -- attributes of lemurs.

A beaming Jorn Hurum said: "This fossil really is part of our history, truly a fossil that's a world heritage. A find like this is something for all human kind."

Video of Dr Jorn Hurum and the New York unvieling of the Ida Fossil.