By the time humans got to the scene, dinosaurs had long since disappeared from the face of the earth. However, recent findings suggest that the seeds of human (and other primates) creation were already growing while the mighty dinosaurs roamed the planet. Fossils of the oldest known primate life form have been analyzed to find that they were about 65.9 million years old. For reference, dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago. The fossils belong to the genus Purgatorius which is recognized by most biologists to belong in the group plesiadapiforms– oldest known primate.
These small mammals were very different from any of the successors we recognize today. Elaborating on the significance of this discovery – the oldest dated appearance of archaic primates – author Stephen Chester said, “It adds to our understanding of how the earliest primates broke away from their competitors after the demise of the dinosaurs.”
Based on the teeth fossil analysis, the team estimates that these animals (which are the ancestors of all known primates including monkeys, lemurs, and even humans) likely evolved by the Late Chalk– meaning they lived alongside large dinosaurs. This discovery has been called an important step in increasing “our understanding of the ecological, biological and social dependencies that ultimately led to primate evolution,” said Peter Tolias, Dean of the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences.
Recently, another paper determined that the cause of the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago was definitely an asteroid impact. This means that whatever the mighty dinosaurs did was survived by our ancestor and led to the eventual restoration of life on the planet.
Chester has been involved in many pioneering primate discoveries. He co-authored a paper in 2015 in which he studied ankle bones Purgatorius and found that these ancestors of arboreal primates survived the asteroid impact long after the dinosaurs disappeared.
Before this new discovery, the oldest known primate fossil was from 55 million years ago. It belonged to a lemur-like mammal and was discovered in China in 2013. The animal was called Archicebus achilles. (Long after all dinosaurs disappeared) This study is published in Royal Society Open Science.