Early Miocene Fossil Fills Gap in Ape Family Tree

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of fossil ape that lived about 17-18 million years ago in northern Egypt. The discovery suggests that the ancestors of modern apes — and humans — may have emerged not in East Africa, but at a crossroads between Africa and Eurasia. Life reconstruction of Masripithecus moghraensis. Image…

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Ancient DNA Study Rewrites Origins of Europe’s First Dogs

Scientists have extracted and analyzed DNA from 216 canid remains, including 181 from Paleolithic and Mesolithic Europe. The oldest data that they recovered are from a 14,200-year-old dog from the Kesslerloch site in Switzerland. Their results suggest that domesticated dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) predate farming and share deep ancestry with wolves (Canis lupus) from Eurasia,…

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