PETER STANDRING: an exceptional discover, for certain, but will they assist Jonathan re solve this primate secret? Are plesiadapiforms our earliest ancestors?
JONATHAN BLOCH: you think, because the presence of a nail is a hallmark characteristic of living primates if we look here, this nail-like structure makes.
PETER STANDRING: that is an enlarged image of this extraordinary nail Jonathan discovered. Close to it, the claw he expected–a startling difference.
JONATHAN BLOCH: This nail may be the very first nail in the real history of primate development.
PETER STANDRING: Concrete proof to aid their theory of primate development. Could there be much more concealed within these bones that are tiny?
To learn, Jonathan enlists assistance from Mary Silcox, evolutionary anthropologist in the University of Winnipeg. She actually is been busy zapping ancient skulls having an industrial-strength pet scanner, adequate to fill a whole space. Mary takes the skull of 1 associated with the limestone skeletons and makes it for scanning.
MARY T. SILCOX (University of Winnipeg) : The x-ray undergoes the specimen, therefore we gather 2,400 split views, which create a cross-sectional image.