A photo from open sources
During excavations in modern China, scientists found a well-preserved skull of a representative of a very rare and the long-extinct species of monkeys that previously inhabited South-East Asia. As you know, some species of monkeys (gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan) are the closest relatives person. Before our appearance on Earth, they inhabited most Old World, including Europe and Asia, and a significant part Africa. A critical moment in the evolution of man and monkeys presumably occurred at the end of the Miocene era, i.e. from 5 to 11 million years ago, at the same time in most of Eurasia the monkeys are almost extinct. This is a sad event. occurred due to the rapid change in climatic conditions to which the monkeys could not adapt. To study more carefully the evolution of monkeys, scientists have explored a site in Yun Nan in southern China, as this area was least affected sharp climatic changes at the end of the Miocene era. Excavations coal fossils have been conducted since 2007 and only recently researchers discovered a monkey skull that is more than six million years. After studying the find, scientists came to the conclusion that the skull belonged to a representative of the species Asian Asiformes monkeys (Lufengpitek). In addition, the width of the skull is 8 cm, and this means that the monkey died when she was only about 5 years old. Examining the teeth of the skull, experts concluded that the floor of the monkey was male. Findings like skulls of fossil monkeys and others close relatives of a person are extremely rare, and the skulls of infants or especially young babies. Asian baby skull the humanoid monkey is only the second find in the world, which can be attributed to the Miocene era, which extends in time from 5 to 23 million years ago. In addition, the skull found is beautiful preserved, unlike previous finds, which allows scientists better understand the anatomy of this long extinct species. Some experts suggested that the owner of the found skull could to be the progenitor of the modern orangutan who now lives in Southeast Asia, but the anatomy of the skull suggests otherwise. Most likely, the discovered species is a relative of the survivors. Eurasian monkeys who migrated to the territory South-East Asia. Researchers have high hopes for further excavations, suggesting that they will be able to detect the remains adults of this species to better discover and study evolution monkeys and other animals.
Translation by Sergey Vasilenkov
China Evolution Time
