Many people look at lemurs and believe that they would like to know the history of lemurs and where they came from. The new fossils will add weight to the earlier origin of lemurs. A team of researchers led by paleontologist Erik Seiffert of the University of Oxford, UK, has discovered a remarkably well-preserved femur, mandible and some molars in Egypt. The 35-million-year-old fossils belong to an extinct primate called Wadilemur elegans, which shows lemur features such as comb-like teeth. Although the animal also shares key features of the bush monkey, the dental features suggest it is a lemur ancestor, the team reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Seiffert concluded that the new fossils prove that the separation of lemurs and bush monkeys occurred at least 35 million years ago, and possibly earlier.

Lemur

Newly discovered lemur species Mirza zaza, the size of squirrel.

In addition, two groups of scientists will announce the discovery of five new lemur species at the European Primate Union Congress in G?ttingen, Germany. They all live in Madagascar, and the smallest is the size of a mouse, while the largest is the size of a squirrel. The reason these species have not been found before is that they are all nocturnal and look very similar to known species. But DNA analysis revealed that they had lived independently of each other for millions of years and belonged to different species.