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Big finds, but taking progress in small steps
Leader of Ida, Predator X fossil projects says plenty of debate and discovery remain ahead

Jørn Hurum, an adjunct associate professor at UNIS this year, discusses the discovery of the Ida primate fossil at the university Tuesday. He will discuss his work excavating "Predator X" and other prehistoric creatures from Svalbard at UNIS on Thursday, participate in an open house at Svalbard Museum from noon to 4 p.m. Friday, and conduct workshops to preserve fossilized footprints from Mine 7 at the museum from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Getting 1.2 billion Google hits in a day isn't a bad start, but Jørn Hurum says he hopes discussion about a controversial fossil discovery is just beginning.

Hurum, a paleontologist serving as an adjunct professor at The University Centre In Svalbard this year, presented his highly publicized findings about a fossil nicknamed Ida at the university Tuesday as part of a series of activities this week related to his work. Another lecture is scheduled Thursday about the record-size "Predator X" and other sea monsters from prehistoric Svalbard, while workshops Friday and Saturday at the Svalbard Museum will focus on preserving fossilized footprints discovered in Mine 7.

Ida generated front-page headlines worldwide this May when Hurum and other researchers claimed the 47-million-year-old primate might be the crucial missing link in the history of human evolution. The 95-percent-complete fossil, discovered in 1983 in a village near Frankfurt, was reassembled in 2007 by Hurum and other members of the international "dream team" after acquiring the two slabs of the lemur-like fossil were preserved on from separate owners.

The completeness of the fossil is what allowed the Ida team to reach its conclusions, Hurum said during his lecture before an audience of about 60 people Tuesday at UNIS.

"Look at her fingers, look at her hands – every piece is there," he said. "This is the first time we've seen a complete picture of a primate that is this old."

Some experts raised concerns the high-profile announcement overplayed the fossil's importance before data could be independently scrutinized. Henry Gee, a senior editor at the journal Nature, told the BBC the term "missing link" is misleading and the scientific community needs to evaluate the fossil's significance.

"It's extremely nice to have a new find and it will be well-studied," he said. But he added that it was not likely to be in the same league as major discoveries such as "Flores man" or feathered dinosaurs.

The scientific paper does not actually claim Ida is a direct descendent. Hurum, who believes the link exists, said publishing the findings is the start of debate, not the end.

"I think we will have to keep the discussion going for 10 years before something happens, even with a convincing specimen like Ida," he said.

The fossil was discovered in 1983 near the village of Messel in a one-time shale quarry being prepared for use as a landfill. A primary slab of the specimen was acquired by a private German collector, while a secondary slab went to a private museum in Wyoming. The German decided to sell his slab in 2005 and, after two Germany museums turned it down the $1 million asking price as too expensive, asked Hurum to look at photos of the specimen. Hurum, who "knew it was 47 million years old just from seeing that picture," said he wanted the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum (where he is a primary assistant professor) to acquire it, but told a fellow professor and mentor he had his doubts.

"I said I'd seen the best fossil I'd seen in my whole life, but I don't think we can afford it," he said.

At the urging of his colleague, Hurum did a short presentation for board and "after one-and-a-half hours of heated argument they decided to give me some of the money. Not the whole million dollars, but some of it so I could start to bargain down."

There were also political considerations. Hurum said two of the four members of his "dream team" were prominent German paleontologists to ensure it wouldn't appear as if Norway was stealing the specimen. The actual research - conducted in secret - began in 2007, which was a bit of a challenge for Hurum as he was returning to the university after a two-year absence.

"Every time somebody came into the office I threw some papers over her so nobody could see her," he said.

The first step – even before completing payment – was getting x-rays of the specimen to see inside the bone since "you can fake the outside of a bone easily," Hurum said. Once its legitimacy was established, the details of the creature could be examined.

"Is she our ancestor?" he said. "More like a grand aunt. How many 'grands' do you want to say?"

Despite some dental and other differences, "the size and shape of the body is very similar to what is expected for our direct ancestors 47 million years ago," Hurum said. Also, the mixture of youth and adult teeth are comparable to a child about 7 years old, so "this is a growing animal."

During the two years of study the team was also planning a book and documentary projects about the find, in addition to a peer-reviewed scientific paper. Advance publicity about the "missing link" was accompanied by some stealthy marketing. An initial shipment of 100,000 books – a large quantity for a science topic – were sent out using the same sealed boxes used for Harry Potter novels.

Hurum acknowledged the Ida researchers took "a very unusual approach" to their outreach campaign, culminating in a May 19 press conference that was also when their paper was published. But he said the high-profile effort paid off in a number of ways, including a depiction of Ida in a logo used by Google as a tribute for its homepage for a 26-hour stretch. During that time, he said, there were 1.2 billion clicks on the logo, which linked to information about the project.

"That makes this the fastest outreach project for a single science paper ever in the history of the world," he said.

Hurum also got considerable attention for dramatic claims regarding Predator X, a prehistoric marine predator discovered in Svalbard in 2006. Dubbed the most powerful creature ever to inhabit the ocean, its bite may have been four times as forceful as that of a Tyrannosaurs Rex.

A lecture about the creature and excavation work related to it, which remains ongoing, is scheduled at 6 p.m. Thursday at UNIS.

Another local discovery, of mammal tracks about 60 million years old in Mine 7, will be a primary focus of workshops at Svalbard Museum from noon to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Friday's activities include a lecture on Hurum's various projects from 1 to 2 p.m. and a youth workshop to preserve the mine footprints at 2 p.m. Another open workshop is scheduled as part of Saturday's events. Admission to the museum and all events is free.

Published in the 11/24/09 print edition.

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