Earliest primate ancestor had surprisingly tiny brain

Tags

anthropology, evolution

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11841-earliest-primate-ancestor-had-surprisingly-tiny-brain.html

Photographs (colour) and 3D digital reconstructions (greyscale) of female
cranium of A. zeuxis (Image: Elwyn Simons et al.)

“The earliest ancestors of old-world monkeys, apes and humans had surprisingly small brains, a new study shows.

This finding – based on a newly described fossil skull – means that large brains evolved independently in new- and old-world primates. It also suggests that evolutionary anthropologists may have to rethink some cherished theories about why such big, powerful brains evolved.”

I’ll come back to this later – my bedtime now…