Environment

Simian saga

DTE Staff

ASIA, not Africa, was the home of thefirst simians. A.group of Chinese scientists working with the Beijing-basedChinese Academy of Sciences claim thatthey have discovered evidence atShanghuang town in eastern Jiangsuprovince which pushes the history ofsimians back by 8 to 10 million yearscompared with the fossils found innorth Africa in the late 1960s.

The scientists have unearthed10,000 fossils in a quarry inShanghuang, which they are convincedare 45 million years old. The fossilsbelong to 63 species of mammals thatfall into 12 orders and 38 families,including 4 fainilies of suborders ofprimates. The anthropoid fossils - asuborder of primates - have beennamed Eosimias sinensis by theirdiscoverers, after a primitive anthropoid that lived in the middle Eoceneperiod and is believed to be the ancestorof all simians.