Le Gasp! 'Ida' Shocks Scientists

If you're wondering, 'Ida', whose skeleton is shown at the right, is a 47 million-year-old Darwinius masillae, a species of primitive primate. It is considered by many scientists to be one of many 'missing links'; they believe that Darwinius lived some time near when more primitive primates such as lemurs and lorises branched off from more advanced primates, including monkeys, great apes, and, by extension, us. Does that mean anything? Probably not. But it gives us an excuse to hype up the media and gape at the wonderfully-preserved specimen from the Messel Shale (see right).