Your Inner Fish

The Human Hand: A Gift from Ancient Primates

Our hand has the same basic form as the hands of all other primates. But what did the earliest version of this hand look like? Neil Shubin pays a visit to Jon Bloch, who shows him a remarkable fossil of Notharctus, an early primate with a hand that you may recognize.

The Human Hand: A Gift from Ancient Primates

4m 26s

  • Your Inner Monkey: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Your Inner Monkey

    S1 E3 - 54m 40s

    Our primate progenitors had bodies a lot like those of modern monkeys and spent tens of millions of years living in trees. From them we inherited our versatile hands, amazing vision and capable brains — but also some less beneficial traits, including our bad backs and terrible sense of smell.

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    Your Inner Reptile

    S1 E2 - 54m 46s

    A key moment in our evolutionary saga occurred 200 million years ago, when the ferocious reptile-like animals that roamed the Earth were in the process of evolving into shrew-like mammals. But our reptilian ancestors left their mark on many parts of the human body, including our skin, teeth and ears.

  • Your Inner Fish: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Your Inner Fish

    S1 E1 - 55m 11s

    Our arms, legs, necks and lungs were bequeathed to us by a fish that lumbered onto land some 375 million years ago. The genetic legacy of this creature can be seen today in our own DNA, including the genes used to build our hands and limbs.

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