Primate fossil not related to humans

The female in question was Ida, a 47million-year-old primate, whose exquisitely preserved fossil was touted as the remains of our earliest human ancestor. She was, they said, the "link" between us and the rest of the animal kingdom. Or maybe not.

Writing in the journal, Nature, a team of palaeontologists from New York claim that Ida is not related to humans at all. Instead, they conclude, the $1 million (Dh3.6 million) fossil looks more like a small lemur or maybe a loris.

Slugging match

The challenge is being seen as the opening salvo in what is shaping up to be a hearty academic slugging match. "Our analysis and results have convinced us that Ida was not an ancestor of monkeys, apes, or humans, and if anything has more relevance for our understanding of lemur and loris origins," said Erik Seiffert, a fossil hunter at Stony Brook University in New York who led the Nature study.

Researchers behind the Ida fossil, known formally as Darwinius masillae, defended their own interpretation. "We expected a challenge like this and it's interesting it has taken five months for the first attack to come," said Jrn Hurum, a palaeontologist at Oslo University's Natural History Museum. "What we claim about Ida is really quite controversial."