News > Newly-discovered Oldest Known Primate Fossil Suggests Our First Ancestor Saw Dinosaurs

Newly-discovered Oldest Known Primate Fossil Suggests Our First Ancestor Saw Dinosaurs

Fossils of the oldest known primate life-form have been analysed to discover they lived around 65.9 million years old. For reference, dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago. The fossils belong to genus Purgatorius which is recognised by most biologists to belong in group plesiadapiforms— oldest known primate.

The team estimates that these animals (who are the ancestor of all known primates including monkeys, lemurs, and even humans) probably evolved by the Late Cretaceous— which means they lived alongside large dinosaurs.