Posted on 12/09/2019 10:05:11 AM PST by blam
Tree-dwelling apes in Europe strode upright around 5 million years before members of the human evolutionary family hit the ground walking in Africa.
That’s the implication of fossils from a previously unknown ape that lived in what’s now Germany about 11.6 million years ago, say paleontologist Madelaine Böhme of the University of Tübingen in Germany and her colleagues. But the relation, if any, of these finds to the evolution of a two-legged stride in hominids by perhaps 6 million years ago is hazy (SN: 9/11/04).
Excavations in a section of a Bavarian clay pit produced 37 fossils from the ancient ape, dubbed Danuvius guggenmosi by the investigators. Bones from the most complete of four individuals represented by the new finds cover about 15 percent of that creature’s skeleton, including nearly complete specimens from the forearm and lower leg, Böhme’s team reports online November 6 in Nature. Earlier research had generated age estimates for fossil-bearing sediment in the German pit.
Danuvius’ limbs, spine and body proportions indicate that it could hang from branches, like present-day orangutans and gibbons, as well as walk on two legs slowly, somewhat like hominids that originated in Africa roughly 6 million to 7 million years ago, the researchers say. No other fossil or living ape has moved in trees and on the ground precisely as Danuvius did, they conclude. An ape built like Danuvius likely served as a common ancestor of great apes and hominids that emerged roughly 7 million years ago or more, Böhme contends.
If true, Danuvius’ body design would upend the long-standing idea that hominids evolved an upright stance after splitting from a common knuckle-walking, chimplike ancestor in Africa. The new finds also challenge an argument that hominids evolved from ancient apes built much like modern orangutans, which walk upright
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Typo
“... 800-99 AD ...”
should be 800-900 AD
No, but I found it on Google 3hrs+... thanks for the tip!
Three types... heh... apparently they’ve never heard of (or maybe have just rejected) multiregionalism.
Heh... Primacy... and Recency... we now need The Recency Regiment!
There is a bunch of stuff out there that is ignored. I just doubt that aliens are responsible for all of them.
That was 55 million years ago.
Bingo!
I knew you wouldn't let me down.
To walk to the store for a six pack and some smokes?
And Lotto tickets..................
I still feel special, carrying Denisovan DNA in my mostly European ass.
I tend to watch because they tend to come up with archaeological oddities that I never heard of before.
Same here, and not just AA -- fringe authors in general really zoom in on oddities, anomalies, and other things that are little talked about.
Same here; occasionally they do fall over an idea/theory that intrigues me. Too many times, though, they go around the bend too fast and off the road.
Have you ever watched “Expedition Unknown” on Discovery or TRVL Channels? Pretty good series.
I may not agree with their conclusion but their ideas about what certain artifacts might be go beyond "religious object" or "toy".
'xactly.
“ Is this about the time giraffes stretch their necks so they could reach the tree leafs(sic)?”
You mean, “Is this about the time that giraffes with longer necks were more likely to survive, thus passing on their mutations for longer necks to more offspring, because they could reach more leaves?”
Why, yes. It was about the same time, +/- a few million years.
Whales evolved from some big land animal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.