Happening @ Michigan

Happening@Michigan

The University of Michigan Events Calendar

Sponsors

No results

Keywords

No results

Types

No results

Search Results

Events

No results
Search events using: keywords, sponsors, locations or event type
When / Where
All occurrences of this event have passed.
This listing is displayed for historical purposes.
Free Exhibition

Presented By: Arts at Michigan

Ask a Question About This Event

Ida: Darwinius masillae

"Ida," a new exhibit in the Exhibit Museum's Rotunda, displays a high-resolution cast of an extremely rare fossil discovered in 1983 near Messel, Germany, but only recently made available for study. The fossil has proven to be a “link” between the prosimian and simian ("anthropoid") primate lineages. It has "advanced" front teeth (incisors and canines) and second toes like those of monkeys, and is broadly representative of what human primate ancestors may have looked like during the Eocene epoch 47 million years ago. Ida (prounded "eeda") is named after after the daughter of Dr Jørn Hurum, the Norwegian vertebrate paleontologist who secured one section of the fossil from an anonymous owner, and led the research. Ida was about eight months old, or the equivalent of a six-year-old human. Publication of a paper on the discovery was accompanied by a book, The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestors by Colin Tudge, and a documentary shown on the History Channel (US), BBC One (UK),and various stations in Germany and Norway. U-M paleontologist Philip Gingerich and U-M anthropologist B. Holly Smith were two members of the "dream team" invited to study Ida. The exhibit will be on display through May 2010.

Related Links

Explore Similar Events

  •  Loading Similar Events...

Keywords


Back to Main Content
About Help Terms of Use Event Feeds Import Events Ask About the Calendar

Contact Us