Fossil Ida: she's 47m years old – and she's our link to animal life
Another milestone in our evolutionary history was reached yesterday when the exquisitely preserved fossil of a 47-million-year-old primate was unveiled. Here Britain's pre-eminent natural history broadcaster describes the importance of being Ida
Humanity is very egocentric. We are fascinated with ourselves. I'm not sure that it is a particularly nice characteristic, but we are.
When we look around us at the natural world, there is often an ulterior motive. We desperately want to know where we came from. We love to think about us and about our ancestors.
Yesterday was humanity's first chance to come face to face with one such ancestor – and a remarkable ancient relative at that. Ida is one of the most immaculately preserved primate fossils ever found and, at 47 million years old, she comes from a key moment in our evolutionary history.
This beautiful little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of the mammals: with cows and sheep, and elephants and anteaters. According to one of the scientists who has studied her, she is a "Rosetta stone" for understanding our early evolution.
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