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New primate fossil - Did our ancestors evolve in Asia?

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  • 01-07-2009 12:16pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 4,630 ✭✭✭


    A new fossil of a primate has been found in Myanmar in Asia (probably several months ago), and the research that was carried out on the fossil was released today. The results suggest that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes actually evolved in Asia, not Africa, which was the prevailing opinion before this discovery.

    Here is the offical paper published by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B scientific journal.

    For a more friendly - and a lot shorter - overview of the discovery, here are links to Eurekalert.org and SciencyDaily.
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Red Hand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭Red Hand


    A couple of weeks ago in New Scientist, they wrote an article on one school of thought which is countering the generally held belief that chimpanzees are out closest relative. A few scientists have been pushing the theory that the orangutang is our closest relative. Orangutangs live in South East Asia, so perhaps a common ancestor of humans and the next closest ape, may not have lived in Africa but rather in Asia.

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227133.800-could-the-orangutan-be-our-closest-relative.html

    It's interesting to note that male chimps have less facial hair than human males and don't really grow long hair like humans do. Yet, orangutangs do have both and have thicker enamel on their teeth like humans too.


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    #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 4,630 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    That's interesting.

    Here's a similarly themed Ted Talk about the Bonobo. The speaker (Susan Savage-Rumbaugh) claims that Bonobos are the closest relation to Humans.

    It's an interesting talk.


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    #4
    darjeeling
    Registered Users Posts: 962 ✭✭✭darjeeling


    Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »
    A couple of weeks ago in New Scientist, they wrote an article on one school of thought which is countering the generally held belief that chimpanzees are out closest relative. A few scientists have been pushing the theory that the orangutang is our closest relative. Orangutangs live in South East Asia, so perhaps a common ancestor of humans and the next closest ape, may not have lived in Africa but rather in Asia.

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227133.800-could-the-orangutan-be-our-closest-relative.html

    It's interesting to note that male chimps have less facial hair than human males and don't really grow long hair like humans do. Yet, orangutangs do have both and have thicker enamel on their teeth like humans too.

    I think for most biologists looking at this, the DNA evidence trumps the physical characteristics. Going on DNA, chimps are by far our closest match, and it would take quite a shift in our understanding of genome evolution to conclude that orangutans were in fact our closest living relative.


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    #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 4,630 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Chimps are genetically our closest match; but isn't it argued that Bonobos are the closest characteristically? Although that obviously counts for far less than the genetic match.

    I can't remember the source, but isn't the genetic difference between us and chimpanzees less than the genetic difference between a horse and a donkey? (This may very well be wrong, I'm not sure how reputable the source was).

    It raises interesting - and rather immoral - questions about the possibilities of interbreeding between the great apes (including us). The infamous Soviet scientist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov is rumoured to have succeded (although I wouldn't give it any credence) in producing a human hybrid.


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    #6
    darjeeling
    Registered Users Posts: 962 ✭✭✭darjeeling


    -JammyDodger- wrote: »
    Chimps are genetically our closest match; but isn't it argued that Bonobos are the closest characteristically? Although that obviously counts for far less than the genetic match.

    Bonobos and chimps split apart a long time after their lineage had parted from ours, so both chimps and bonobos share the same common ancestor with us. Crudely:

    ape_phylogeny.jpg
    -JammyDodger- wrote: »
    I can't remember the source, but isn't the genetic difference between us and chimpanzees less than the genetic difference between a horse and a donkey? (This may very well be wrong, I'm not sure how reputable the source was).

    It raises interesting - and rather immoral - questions about the possibilities of interbreeding between the great apes (including us). The infamous Soviet scientist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov is rumoured to have succeded (although I wouldn't give it any credence) in producing a human hybrid.

    Richard Leakey said this on Channel 4's recent Dawkins-fronted Darwin series. He said he gets a shocked expression when he tells people. I expect it would freak the chimps out too.


    hum-chimpchromosomes.gif


    Looking at a schematic of the human and chimp chromosomes, there's one fusion and a number of rearrangements. Is that enough to prevent hybrid viability? Hopefully no-one's doing the experiments.


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