OUR ANCESTORS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XVII, Issue 5880, 7 April 1920, Page 2

OUR ANCESTORS

WERE THEY GORILLAS OR TARSIERS

Those who have been paying homage to the gorilla as our ancestors must now transfer part at any rate of that ellegianco to the tarsier, an animal quite insignificant whoa compared with the long line of its descendants. This is the theory of the descent of man putforward by Professor G., E. Smith at the Royal Institute. The tarsier, Professor Smith explained, had the good souse to develop a sensible nose, or the human race migjlit still have been swinging in trees and walking on all fours. The whole history of mankind can be tracca to the difference betwceen (die nose of the tarsier and the snout of the Bem.ur. The lemur and .the tarsier sprang from the same stock in North America malay ages ago, but the snout of the former prevented stereoscopic vision. The tarsier. which cultivated this quality, was enabled to correlate rision and touch, and thus gained much experience, aiu'd was able to perform skilled movements. “Man,’ 1 ’ the professor explained, "preserves a much more primitive structure than any of He apes, who were descended from the same ancestors. This preservation is because many's predecessors relied on the cultivation of the bra-jo. whereas the others, like the chimpansee or the- gorilla, developed strength or agility in order to escape extinction.”