Deviation Actions
Description
Observing the ground from a seemingly safe vantage point is an early ancestor to primates called Darwinius. Darwinius was once thought to represent the earliest transition of Mesozoic mammals to an early primate and therefore a direct line to modern humans. This idea is no longer considered. Though Darwinius is an early primate and a transitional one, there have been other examples discovered that appear to show a continued branching lineage whereas there seems to be no further evolution of Darwinius. It is believed they died out before the end of the Eocene.
The prehensile tail and fingers that ended in nails instead of claws is, in fact, a major step towards human evolution, but that is now seen in other early primates that were parallel with Darwinius. There are more discoveries needed to better fill in the gaps in the earliest days of primates and human evolution.
An adult Darwinius is estimated to be about 3 feet long with a 1/3rd of that being tail. The only known specimen is a juvenile female that is 23 inches in length. They lived in the middle Eocene of Europe about 47 million years ago and the only holotype was found near Messel, Germany.
