No SBF the fossils will always say that extant species evolved from earlier, now extinct ones. The precise details of taxonomy will have been refined but paleontology and genetics will still prove common ancestry beyond all doubt. Even in a million years that will still be true. And the earth still won't be flat and rocks still won't be conscious.
Posts by cofty
-
78What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
One of the biggest gulfs that life has had to cross was the transition from sea to dry land.
Fish have conical shaped heads, reptiles have flat heads. Fish have no necks; their heads are attached to their shoulders by a series of bony plates. Land-dwelling animals all have necks; their heads can move independently of their shoulders. Fish have scales and fins, land animals have limbs with fingers, toes wrists and ankles. Fish use gills to breathe under water, land-living animals have lungs to breathe air.
These sound like insurmountable problems, but if evolution is true there must have been creatures that made the leap successfully. In 2004 Neil Shubin and his team set themselves the challenge of finding exactly this transitional fossil. What they discovered was astonishing.
Their success was not entirely down to good luck. The critical time period was already known. Fossils from rocks 385 million years old all look like fish, younger rocks dated at 365 million years old reveal fossils that are all recognisably amphibian or reptile. To find a relative of the transitional species between fish and land-dwelling animals Shubin knew he had to concentrate on rocks that were 375 million years old, preferably laid down in an ancient river or stream and which were now exposed on the surface.
Initially Shubin and his colleague Ted Daeschler were looking at Alaska and the Yukon as a potential site but when Daeschler examined a geological map he came across a diagram that that in Shubin’s words took their breath away. It showed a region in of the Canadian Arctic that fulfilled all the criteria they were looking for. It had a large layer of exposed Late Devonian rock of exactly the right age. The rock had been formed in a freshwater delta and even better it was previously unexplored by vertebrate paleontologists.
In the end it took four expeditions to Ellesmere Island over a period of six years to find what they were looking for, but when they did it exceeded all expectations. It would hardly be possible to make up a fossil more perfect as a transition between fish and land-living animals than Tiktaalik.
Like a fish it has scales on its back, gills and fins with webbing for paddling. Unlike any fish it has a flat head with eyes on top like a crocodile as well as sharp teeth and well developed jaws. It also has ribs, lungs enabling it to breathe out of water as well as a neck that allowing it to move its head independently of its shoulders.
The most interesting feature of Tiktaalik is in the bones inside its front fins. As well as fish-like ray bones it has an arrangement of sturdy bones that you would recognise from any tetrapod alive today. Think about the bones of your limbs, we have a large bone – humerus or femur; two smaller bones – radius and ulna or tibia and fibula; a collection of smaller bones – carpals or tarsals and then our digits – fingers or toes. All limbed creatures from whales to penguin to birds and horses have variations of the same basic arrangement. Here, 375 million years ago was a descendant of a fish that had already evolved this body plan. The joints are all there too with a shoulder, elbow and wrist.
..... When the details were studied more closely something astonishing was discovered. The structure of the bones in Tiktaalik’s wrist indicated that he could do push-ups. The elbow was capable of bending like ours and the wrist could bend so the lower end of the limb was flat on the ground. Close examination of the shoulder bones and the underside of the upper arm revealed massive crests and scars where large pectoral muscles attached.
Imagine Tiktaalik, up to 9 feet long in shallow pools surrounded by even bigger predators. It was a fish-eat-fish world. One survival strategy was to get bigger and get armour, Tiktaalik stumbled on an alternative – get out the water.
Look at your hand, open and close your fingers, flex your wrist back and forward. You are using joints that first appeared inside the fins of a fish like Tiktaalik.
This is only one story about transitional species - there are plenty more. The lineages leading to modern whales and horses are particularly rich in transitional forms. What makes this story so amazing is that Shubin and his team didn’t just stumble on Tiktaalik. They used what was already known about evolution and geology to make a prediction. They knew that the transition from fish to land happened 375 million years ago. They knew where rocks of this age were to be found and they went to that place and found precisely what they predicted must exist.
Contrary to creationist claims there is an embarrassment of riches of fossils but Tiktaalik ranks as an A-List celebrity in the zoo of ancient creatures.
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Hooby I gave you a specific explanation of extant (c. 8 million) and extinct (>5 billion) species and linked three peer-reviewed papers that explain in detail how these figures are arrived at.
One of the best arguments against creationism is to let people witness the dishonesty of creationists. You are an outstanding example.
Sea Breeze - It would literally take you five minutes to educate yourself on the difference between petrification and fossilization.
Evolution is a Fact - Ignorance is a choice.
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Hooby demands evidence
I provide tons of it
Hooby ignores it and demands more
I provide it
Hooby runs away until next time
and repeat ad nauseum
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Estimates of all the species that have ever lived are around 5 billion (lowest estimate) if we just count eukaryotes. Orders of magnitude higher than the 8 million extant (eukaryote) species. So that means the 99% figure is massively underestimated, it's more like 99.9%
You're welcome but you really need to start doing your own research. Creationism seems to attract lazy people.
Extant species
~7.77 million species of animals (of which 953,434 have been described and cataloged)
~298,000 species of plants (of which 215,644 have been described and cataloged)
~611,000 species of fungi (moulds, mushrooms) (of which 43,271 have been described and cataloged)
~36,400 species of protozoa (single-cell organisms with animal-like behavior, eg. movement, of which 8,118 have been described and cataloged)
~27,500 species of chromista (including, eg. brown algae, diatoms, water moulds, of which 13,033 have been described and cataloged)
Total: 8.74 million eukaryote species on Earth. - Source...
It is known that almost all of the species which have lived on the Earth are now extinct (Raup 1986). Only about one in a thousand of those which have ever existed are alive today, and most of the others didn’t last very long—less than ten million years in most cases. Some of these were wiped out by well-documented cataclysmic events. The K–T boundary event is the most famous example, caused perhaps by the impact of a meteor (Alvarez et al. 1980, Sharpton et al. 1992, Glen 1994). However, the majority of extinctions have no known cause. It is possible that some of them were the result not of environmental disasters but simply of natural evolutionary processes. If a coevolutionary avalanche of sufficient size were to pass through the ecosystem, causing the evolution of thousands of species to new forms, it is conceivable that certain species would find their livelihoods destroyed by the changes, and be driven to extinction. - Source (pdf)
See How do rare species avoid extinction? A paleontological view. Author, Michael L. McKinney
See also Biological Extinction in Earth History Author, David M. Raup (pdf)
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Hooby is your question about the numbers or do you reject the simple fact that life on earth has been almost wiped out five times in its history?
-
27
Make Shunning A Hate Crime
by Lost in the fog inthe humanist organisation in the uk wants to protect non-religious people who leave their church/religion from being punished for doing so.
they want the religious hate crime legislation in the uk to be extended to people who are not religious.
i hope they will succeed.
-
-
cofty
Their are compelled to do so against their better judgement by a powerful criminal organization.
To play Devil's Advocate; not really.
JWs choose whether to shun relatives or pay the social cost of not doing so.
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Hooby - You asked for evidence. I provided you with a link to an extensive article jam packed with evidence and loads of links to further research.
You can't even be arsed to click on it.
Evolution is a Fact - Ignorance is a choice.
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
I make the effort to post a detailed response laying out the details of the Permian Extinction and some moron responds by clicking 'dislike'.
That there tells you all you need to know about creationism.
-
78
What The Fossils Say
by cofty inthe old creation book had a lot to say about the fossil record.
if i remember correctly it was some lie about all the fossils ever found would fit on a single table.
the reality is that there is an embarrassment of riches illustrating the evolution of life.
-
-
cofty
Here you go Hooby.
Here is a lengthy article packed with evidence and links to further research...
You're welcome
###########
In this tutorial, we'll discuss the following questions:
What are mass extinctions?
How do we detect mass extinctions in the fossil record?
What role do mass extinctions play in evolution?
What are some common misconceptions about mass extinctions?
How do scientists study mass extinctions?
What evidence do scientists use to study mass extinctions?
What causes mass extinctions?
How could volcanic activity cause mass extinctions?
Are we experiencing a mass extinction now?