Thursday, May 21, 2009

Why Ida Is Not the "Missing Link"

Chris Beard, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, sorts through the hoopla:

Ida is not a "missing link" – at least not between anthropoids and more primitive primates. Further study may reveal her to be a missing link between other species of Eocene adapiforms, but this hardly solidifies her status as the "eighth wonder of the world".

Instead, Ida is a remarkably complete specimen that promises to teach us a great deal about the biology of some of the earliest and least human-like of all known primates, the Eocene adapiforms. For this, we can all celebrate her discovery as a real advance for science.

Read the whole thing.