Human ancestors are not smart

A monkey-like animal - considered the common ancestor of humans, human and monkey primates - is not as intelligent as people think. Scientists drew this when analyzing a well-preserved 29 million-year-old skull.

The primates of the primate Aegyptopithecus zeuxis.(Photo: Reuters)

This tiny skull is of a female primate of the Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, living on a tree, eating leaves and fruit, living about 29 million years ago in the region's warm forests now an Egyptian desert.

Scientists have used computerized X-ray techniques, allowing the size of an animal's brain to be determined.

"It's amazing how small the brain is," said study primate Elwyn Simons from Duke University, who led the study.

"You can also see that it is a fairly primitive brain. It is only small for a monkey or humanoid primate," Simons said. "Therefore, it tells us that the speed of brain expansion in primates is a bit slower than we thought."

The skull was found in a lake in southwestern Cairo in 2004, able to fit into the palm of a human hand. Based on initial findings, the scientists hypothesize that it has a relatively large brain. But in fact, its brain is even smaller than that of a lemur today - a primitive with primitive characteristics.

(Photo: Elwyn Simons et al)

T. An