The lemur-like fossil, thought to be a missing link between today’s primates and distant relatives, is on show at New York’s American Museum of Natural History after being launched amid great fanfare by the city’s mayor.

The skeleton is so good that it still has an outline of fur and there are traces of its last meal.

The female animal lived during the Eocene Period, when early primates developed.

The investigation of the fossil’s significance was led by Jorn Hurum of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway.

He said the fossil creature was “the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor” and described its discovery as “a dream come true”.

Dr Jens Franzen, an expert on Germany’s Messel Pit, where Ida was found in the 1980s, said: “She belongs to the group from which humans developed, but my impression is she is not on the direct line.”

He explained this meant she was more of an aunt than a grandmother. Other experts are sceptical, making them anti-Ida…

The Missing link?: Scientists unveil lemur-like fossil at New York’s American Museum of Natural History