World's oldest Sumatran orangutan dies aged 62

The world's oldest Sumatran orangutan, which had 11 children and 54 descendants spread across the globe, has died aged 62, Australian zoo officials said Tuesday.

Puan -- Indonesian for "lady" -- died on Monday at Perth Zoo, where she had lived since being gifted by Malaysia in 1968.

"She did so much for the colony at Perth Zoo and the survival of her species," said primate supervisor Holly Thompson.

"Apart from being the oldest member of our colony, she was also the founding member of our world-renowned breeding program and leaves an incredible legacy.

Tiny tubes in Canadian rock may be oldest known fossils

Tiny tubes and filaments in some Canadian rock appear to be the oldest known fossils, giving new support to some ideas about how life began, a new study says.

The features are mineralized remains of what appear to be bacteria that lived some 3.77 billion to 4.28 billion years ago, the scientists said. That would surpass the 3.7 billion years assigned to some other rock features found in Greenland, which were proposed to be fossils last August.