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By the time humans arrived at the scene, dinosaurs had long since disappeared from the face of the Earth. However, recent findings suggest that the seed of creation of humans (and other primates) was already growing when the mighty dinosaurs were still walking the planet. Fossils of the earliest known primate life form have been analyzed to find that they lived approximately 65.9 million years ago. For reference, dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago. Fossils belong to the genus Purgatorius which is recognized by most biologists as belonging to the group plesiadapiformes– the oldest known primate.
These small mammals were very different from any successor we recognize today. Elaborating on the significance of this find – the oldest dated occurrence of archaic primates – author Stephen Chester said: “It adds to our understanding of how the first primates separated from their competitors after the dinosaurs disappeared. . “
Based on the tooth-fossil analysis, the team believes that these animals (which are the ancestor of all known primates, including apes, lemurs, and even humans) likely evolved by late Cretaceous– which means they lived alongside large dinosaurs. This discovery was called an important step in increasing “our understanding of the environmental, biological and social addictions that ultimately led to the evolution of primates” according to Peter Tolias, dean of the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences.
Recently, another article established that the cause of the dinosaurs extinction was certainly an asteroid impact 66 million years ago. This implies that everything that wiped out the mighty dinos was survived by our ancestor and led to the eventual resumption of life on the planet.
Chester has been involved in many groundbreaking primate discoveries. He co-wrote an article in 2015 that studies ankle bones Purgatorius and established that these arboreal primate ancestors survived the impact of asteroids long after the dinosaurs died out.
Before this new discovery, the oldest known primate fossil dates back 55 million years. It belonged to a lemur-like mammal and it was discovered in China in 2013. The animal was called Archicebus Achilles. (Long after all dinosaurs were gone.) This study was published in the Royal Society Open Science.
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