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Fossils hint at India’s crucial role in primate evolution

Limb bones may reveal what common ancestor looked like

gray mouse lemur

ANCIENT LOOK  Fossils of extinct primates that lived in India nearly 55 million years ago come from tiny creatures that were about the size of a gray mouse lemur (shown).

 

David Haring/Duke Lemur Center

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Remarkably preserved bones of rat-sized creatures excavated in an Indian coal mine may come from close relatives of the first primatelike animals, researchers say.