Imaging the Earliest Old World Monkey Brain (IMAGE)
Caption
The brain hidden inside the oldest known Old World monkey skull has been visualized for the first time. The ancient monkey, known as <em>Victoriapithecus</em>, first made headlines in 1997 when its 15 million-year-old skull was discovered on an island in Kenya's Lake Victoria. Now, thanks to high-resolution X-ray imaging, researchers have peered inside its cranial cavity and created a three-dimensional computer model of what the animal's brain likely looked like. Its tiny but remarkably wrinkled brain supports the idea that brain complexity can evolve before brain size in the primate family tree. The creature's fossilized skull is now part of the permanent collection of the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.
Credit
Photo courtesy of Fred Spoor of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Licensed content