Wednesday, October 24, 2012

We Found the Ankle!

http://storage0.dms.mpinteractiv.ro/media/401/321/5109/10247490/1/purgatorius.jpg
Until recently, the only proof we had of Earth's earliest primates were several teeth and a few mouth bones. The bones were found in northeastern Montana in a place very close to where the first Tyrannosaurus Rex was first discovered. Scientists couldn't tell much from the teeth because they were so primitive, so they decided to set out and find more proof of this primate. They decided to search in the same area they originally found the bones, and after only two days the discovered an ankle bone! To us, an ankle bone doesn't have much significance. But to paleontologists Stephen Chester and Jonathan Bloch, this ankle bone was the exact proof they needed. It proved that what they call Purgatorius really was one of the first primates on Earth. They discovered that the ankle could have moved in many different ways which meant that Purgatorius could have easily scampered along the ground as well as climbed trees.
http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/179/flashcards/783179/jpg/purgatorius3001317950121516.jpg

Sources: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346001/description/Earliest_primate_had_tree-climber_ankles

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