Evolutionary Evidence Suggests We Descended From Rats

Evolutionary Evidence Suggests We Descended From Rats

Yes, the line from ancient rats to Maury Povich seems clear enough.

"After a six-year study of the mammal family tree, scientists now believe that many mammalian species (people included) originated with a tiny rat-like creature that crawled the Earth tens of millions of years ago. Fossils of the Protungulatum donnae look like the best ancestor candidate for the mammal family tree extending back 66 million years, and they preserve evidence that the creature weighed around eight ounces, had a long fuzzy tail, and ate bugs. Maureen A. O’Leary, the Stony Brook University anatomist who led the project, says, "The findings were not a total surprise. But it’s an important discovery because it relies on lots of information from fossils and also molecular data."

Scientists have long known that the large modern mammals must have evolved from the small mammals that co-existed with the dinosaurs, but this new finding/speculation is more specific than any previous connection which had been established.