Global cooling: Chinese study reveals how a big chill killed off potential human origins in Asia
Research answers question why Africa became the centre of evolution for primates
Humans could have originated in Asia if not for a massive cooling event that wiped out all large primates in the region some 34 million years ago, according to a joint study by Chinese and US scientists.
The research team led by professor Ni Xijun, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, came to the conclusion after analysing the fossils of six new species of early primates found in southwest China.
The findings are reported in the latest issue of Science magazine.
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The primates all went extinct during the period known as Eocene-Oligocene transition, when most of the earth, except for Africa and Southeast Asia, experienced a rapid drop in temperature and humidity because of tectonic shifts.
The research answered a question that had puzzled scientists for decades: why did humans originate in Africa when the earliest primate fossils have been found in Asia dating back 45 million years ago?
“After going through the ‘voluntary filter’ of the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the anthropoids [large primates] in Asia went extinct but the anthropoids in Africa began to thrive, eventually leading to monkeys, apes and human beings,” Xinhua quoted Ni as saying.
“This study reveals why Africa became the centre of evolution for primates.”
