The hunt for the dawn monkey : unearthing the origins of monkeys, apes, and humans /

In popular surveys of human evolution, the history of humans' primate relatives is usually relegated to a few pages. Primate paleontologist Beard rectifies the situation. Starting with a cooperative Chinese peasant's discovery of a spectacular fossil, Beard (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) explains the basics of primate evolution. He discusses some of the major discoveries in the history of this field and the scientists who made them. He includes his own contributions and those of his contemporaries and teachers. The most incendiary of his views is that the Chinese fossil Eosimias is near the origin of the anthropoid primates: humans, apes, and the monkeys of both South America and the Old World. Many scholars (including this reviewer) reject this idea, arguing that Eosimias shares few, if any, conclusive features with later anthropoids, living or fossil. However, the jury is still out. It is Beard's ability to make this and similar debates exciting to nonspecialists that will keep readers turning the pages. The author's first-class illustrations include many line drawings, a selection of photos of the fossils (and their analysts), and charming reconstructions of past locales. Endnotes and a strong bibliography support the science behind the story. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers. E. Delson CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College

Popular interest in human origins is strong, especially in the evolutionary fork splitting hominids from the great apes; however, there is less interest in the preceding evolutionary fork, which separated anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and humans) from prosimians (lemurs and tarsiers). Explaining when and where that happened is the controversial subject of this book because the author, a young vertebrate paleontologist at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, is apparently agitating this specialized field by challenging orthodox theories. Traditionalists believe the anthropoids evolved in North Africa in the late Eocene epoch (about 34 million years ago), but Beard touts China and the early Eocene (about 57 million years ago). Since this bone war turns on interpretations of finger-size fossils of jaws and teeth, passages in Beard's account can be textbook technical, but otherwise, it bows to historical personages of paleontology and includes incidents from Beard's interesting fossil-hunting expeditions around the world. Those two features are of perennial appeal to general-interest readers and enhance Beard's capable presentation of an overlooked topic. --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2004 Booklist

In recent years, paleontologists have feuded over the origins-long assumed to be African-of our very distant ancestors, the anthropoid primates. Fossil expert Beard presents his controversial case for Asia in this dense chronicle. Searching in central China for bones from the Eocene epoch, Beard's assistant Wen Chaohua, a local farmer, found an extraordinarily intact fossil jaw of the tiny prosimian Eosimias ("dawn monkey"). This jaw, Beard believes, will link small Asian primates such as tarsiers with the distant anthropoid ancestors of humans. Not exactly the Bigfoot-like missing link of popular imagination, but as Beard notes wryly, "The dirty little secret of paleoanthropology is that, while there are plenty of missing links, they don't occur where most people think they do." Knowing his findings will create an "academic brouhaha," Beard spends 300 pages building an intricate case for his tarsier theory. To establish context and popularize the subject, he describes the work of Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) and other noted paleontologists. But he also includes endless details about tiny skulls and their components, scientific conferences, global climate change hypotheses and the minutiae of Darwinist theory. Tales of harsh field expeditions make for good reading, and Beard's findings tell a startling scientific story, but information overload keeps this book from being suitable for most general readers. Illus. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In this informative and engaging book, Beard (curator, vertebrate paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History) narrates his quest to find fossil evidence that documents the early origin of anthropoids, a group of primates that includes monkeys, apes, and hominids. Challenging the traditional viewpoint that Africa was the birthplace of simians in the Oligocene epoch, Beard argues that the earliest anthropoids emerged in Asia during the Paleocene epoch. He supports his bold theory by extrapolating from monkeylike fossils found in central China, including his own discovery of the pivotal but controversial specimen Eosimias from the middle Eocene epoch; its closest living counterpart is probably the pygmy marmoset, a New World monkey. Interpretations of eye and ear regions (when present), jaws, and teeth from fossil primates in both the late Paleocene, e.g., Altiatlasius, and Eocene eras strengthen Beard's theory. Beard also acknowledges other sites, models, discoveries, and hypotheses concerning the emergence and evolution of early primates. Numerous illustrations, as well as extensive notes and excellent maps and charts, enhance this fascinating volume. Highly recommended for all anthropology collections.-H. James Birx, SUNY at Geneseo (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.