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The beautifully preserved remains of a 47-million-year-old, lemur-like creature have been unveiled in the US. The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal. The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a "missing link" between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives. But some independent experts, awaiting an opportunity to see the new fossil, are sceptical of the claim. And they have been critical of the hype surrounding the presentation of Ida. The fossil was launched amid great fanfare at...

Around 5,000 years ago, the island of Madagascar would have resembled a Sci-Fi novel. Strange, prickly forests, gorilla-sized lemurs, pygmy hippopotamuses, horned crocodile and elephant birds whose eggs were 180 times the size of what you'd find in your fridge today, all called the African island home -- that was until the humans arrived.

One of the two lemurs attacked by another primate earlier this week at the Albuquerque zoo died Saturday. The ABQ Bio Park said a 26-year-old siamang named Brian pried open some heavy-duty mesh that was separating its enclosure from the lemurs on Tuesday. Brian climbed in and attacked the two lemurs. "Both received injuries to their tails and also bite wounds that required some suturing," said Debbie Wiese, the zoo’s primate supervisor. ... The BioPark is now keeping the siamangs and lemurs in separate exhibits to avoid any future problems.

It has been the Feast of Saint Michael and all Angels today, with all that we associate with that, in Christendom, both Western and Eastern. One cannot be Christian and deny that angels exist: the most literal will find several actually named in the Bible (Old Testament and New), and their messages received, and their presences acknowledged, page after page. Their choirs ascend, in greater and greater proximity to God in the highest: Angels, Archangels, Principalities; Powers, Virtues, Dominations; Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim. There was a post on this topic one year ago. I tried to supply a suitable affront to...

This foraging occupation of one site effectively doubles and confirms the length of Madagascar’s known occupational history and thus the time during which people exploited its environments. The rock shelter yielded a stratified assemblage with small flakes, microblades, and retouched crescentic and trapezoidal tools, probably projectile elements, made from cherts and obsidian, some brought more that 200 km. The assemblage from the top layers of the site is well dated to 1050–1350 A.D. This was achieved using carbon dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), as well as ceramic typology imported from the Near East and China. Below this layer is...

Two new species of lemur have been found in Madagascar, bringing the number of known species to 49. German and Malagasy scientists made the discovery by analysing the genetic make-up of wild lemurs. Lemurs are considered the most endangered of all primates and live only on Madagascar which has evolved in isolation for 165 million years. As a result, the island is now home to mammals, birds and plants that exist nowhere else on our planet. The first new species is a giant mouse lemur known as Mirza zaza. It has a long bushy tail and is about the size...