MUSEUM visitors will come face to face with a cast of a 47m-year-old fossil some believe to be man’s earliest ancestor.
The Darwinius masillae fossil – known as Ida – has created a frenzy in the palaeontological community, amid claims it could be the “missing link” between humans and more distant ancestors.
And from today, visitors to the Natural History Museum in London will be able to make their own minds up when a cast of Ida goes on display.
Researchers from the University of Oslo have suggested the specimen, which was found 95% complete, may be the root of anthropoid evolution, when primates were first developing the features that would evolve into our own.
Discovered in Germany, Ida is so well preserved that even the outline of its fur can be seen.
Jerry Hooker, mammalian palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, said: “The key significance of this new fossil is that it is so complete.”
