Evidence for evolution?

Question

I once saw a book, and it had a page dedicated to the evidence for evolution. The page was blank.

So I was wondering, does anyone have an example of actual evidence? No convincing missing links have been found. Neanderthals can't be used, because they may have actually had bigger brains than us and a Neanderthal living today wouldn't be seen as any different from anyone else. I can't really think of anything?

Oh yeah, thanks, I had forgotten about microevolution. Flu virus, misquitos adapting, etc. That's called adaption, and it doesn't mean that evolution is true.
Look at how different the various breeds of dogs there are, and yet they are still the same species. Everyone recognizes that a poodle and a doberman are both dogs. Despite humankinds best efforts, no new species have yet been created.

Deicidal The reason I asked this is because I'm looking at alternate views.
Baleen whales have a pelvis bone. Yes, so do a lot of mammals. Alright, I give up. What's your point with that?

I was just pointing out that Neanderthals can't be a missing link if they are just like modern humans.

straight, through the time period that you're talking about with the moths, but white and black moths were around the entire time. It's an example of survival of the fittest, but not of evolution. The giraffe's necks are an adaption, the kind that can be seen in a lot of species. But there's no evidence that that can create new species.

It's getting late, so I'm going to have to get off, but a couple more things. About the horse evolution, I've heard that the numbers of ribs that each successive horse had jumps around. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think that it went from like twelve to sixteen ribs at one point. How could a horse evolve like that?
Lucy is now thought to be a kind of ape. Not a missing link.

Anyway, thanks everyone for answering. And by the way, I'm not just trying to stir up controversy, I'm really trying to see what the arguments are on both sides. In a while, I'm going to post something about evidence for evolution, and then everyone can have fun knocking down my evidence.

Thanks again!

Answer 1

If you want to know about evidence for evolution, read the article I've linked. It's a long one, so read it when you've got plenty of time!

Answer 2

Good grief--you're one of these people that slept through every single science class you had since fourth grade, right?

Off the top of my head, I'd say horses. There's an excellent fossil record of the progression of th evolution of the horse. Here's a nice link, just in case you don't believe me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_horse

Then there's the famous Archaeopteryx. I suppose somebody's duped you into believe it's just a hoax or something silly like that. I've even seen printed, very recently, in Jehovah's Witnesses' books that it's a fake. Well, sorry, but it's a REAL FOSSIL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx

And you have not, I take it, heard of any of the other early species of hominids? You know...Lucy, etc. I'm sure I can find a link for you for those...oh yes, look, Wikipedia has an article about this too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Evolution

I personally happen to think that the evolution of whales is particularly fascinating. I just read somewhere that whale's closes living relatives are actually bears! Creatures came from the sea, adapted to life on land and then went back to the sea! Fascinating stuff!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_cetaceans

Now, if you believe that science has gotten it all wrong and you can poke holes in and disprove the theories concerning the evolution of all these creatures, by all means email me and enlighten me. Otherwise, have fun reading and enlighten yourself.

By the way...that book with the blank page you mention? The only person so willfully ignorant as to be capable of leaving that page blank must have been a Creationist.

Answer 3

Genetic variation plays largley in evolution. It takes millions of years for major evolutionary changes. It has to do with survival of the fittest in an ever changing environment.

For example, in the early 1900's, during the industrial revolution, we watched a certain moth in England, change from 95% white moths and 5% black moths to 95% black moths 5% white moths, in just a few years. How did this happen? It was an evolutionary change due to survival of the fittest and genetic variation. Before the industrial revolution, the white moths camoflauged with the light colored trees and the black moths stood out to predators such as birds. When the industrial plants came in and started spewing black soot into the surrounding environment, trees started to turn black from the pollution. Well, now the white moths stood out, and the black moths camoflauged; the white moths were being demolished by predators, leaving the black moths to propagate the species and before you knew it, the population of moths were 95% black and 5% white. This is how evolution works.

Another good example are giraffs. How did their necks get so fricken long? Well, a major food source for giraffs are the leaves from trees. Like people, some giraffs are taller than other giraffs. The giraffs that are going to get the majority of the food are the tall ones that can reach the under side of trees, leaving the shorter giraffs without food. Because of this height difference, the taller giraffs were more likely to survive and pass on their tall genes to their children, and over a million years of this struggle, you get a horse like creature that has now stretched it's legs and necks out to into what we have today, the giraff.

If you think how long life has been on this planet, (about 3 billion years), it's no wonder how evolution has changed creatures so dramatically. How long have humans been aroud for? We have seen through fossil evidence that humans have been around for about 250,000 years, and our written history goes back about 5,000 years. Not a very long time compared to how long life has been on this planet.

Answer 4

The whales pelvis is evidence of it's evolution from a land mammal to a semiaquatic mammal (like an otter ot sea lion) to full on sea creature.

Ambulocetus and similar fossils are the not-so-missing link.

There's also the petrified leaves from the Clarkia fossil beds, so well preserved that chloroplast DNA can be extracted and mapped showing a 12% change in the evolutionary line (meaning that the oldest fossil leaves are 4 or 5 times as different from the sites newest fossil leaves than humans are from apes). You can actually go through the layers of metamorphic rock and test the gradual step-by-step addition and transformation of new genetic information to the species.

Answer 5

Hmmm....I wonder why it had a blank page? Maybe it was for sale in a shop in a "fundie" church?

Try visiting a natural history museum. Read a bit of Darwin, think a bit about what your teachers told you (unless of course it was a school where the teaching of creationism is openly encouraged). The evidence is there for it not to be the fairy tale that some Christians would like to think that it is.

By the way, I don't quite get the neanderthal comment and it seems like others don't either.

Answer 6

bigger brains doesn't mean more intellegent. for example i will computers as an analogy.

the first computers were the size of several rooms and could only do mathematical equations. no we have smaller computers that can do a number of things that most people back then could only dream of. now this may seem irrelevant as those are mechanical and we are biological but i will put forth this: for signals to be sent across a larger brain it takes up much more time and therefore slower reactions and actions as well as slower thinker. smaller brains mean it takes less time for the signals to get across. now one could argue "well then how come we are smarter then animals and they have smaller brains?" it's actually a matter of balance. theirs are so small they can only do so much but their reactions are much faster and our brains have more capability and are slower than animals.

now onto evidence for evolution: fossils and evolution we can examine with our own eyes.

let us take wolves and dogs. they are very similiar almost exactly the same. so similiar in fact they can produce fertile offspring with each other.

now let us look at other things we can examine. look up: Biston betularia it is the pepper moth and we saw a small scale of evolution at work. granted it was only color but how it all happened gives a logical evidence that if "survival of the fittest" is correct with that then it will likely be correct in other scenarios.

http://www.answers.com/topic/evolution
look under the section Science of Everyday Things.

Answer 7

Neanderthals can't be used because their brains are bigger? Okay then...what kind of logic that?

Here's one tiny piece of evidence for evolution from the mountain of evidence: Baleen whales have a pelvis bone.

There's one example, you can research the rest, but you're a creationist which means you are incapable of looking at alternative views. So good luck with that!


Edit: Idiot below, it's a vestigial feature and it suggests that the whale's descendants were terrestrial (you need a pelvis to walk on land and you don't need one to swim in the ocean)
Jeez, are creationists that stupid..err..I mean ignorant?

Answer 8

Neanderthals are just one hominid group.
* Pierolapithecus catalaunicus
* Ardipithecus
* Australopithecus
* Homo rudolfensis
* Homo habilis
* Homo erectus

If you are going to say it's significant that Neanderthal brains were larger and that they were indistinguishable, you've contradicted yourself.

In addition to fossils, we have genetic evidence. We have characterized the chromosomal fusion that distinguishes humans from the other great apes, and we also share genes on other chromosomes (e.g. CYP21 on chromosome 6) with chimps, but not gorillas and orangutans.

The anatomic phylogenetic tree is confirmed by gene homology in nonstructural genes.

Answer 9

snakes evolved from lizards, this is observable in glass lizards which have no legs yet still have ear openings and movable eyelids (both of which snakes lack) its also observable on the boidae (boas and pythons) family of snakes who have vestigal legs (thorn like putrusions) on either side of the cloaca (opening at the base of the tail for waste and mating) which are movable, looking at the skeletons of these animals you can also see remnents of a pelvic bone.

rays (comprised of hundreds of species but most notably the stingray or manta ray) evolved from sharks.
the dorsal fin moved forward and into the head, they also became flattened and lost the need for a tail.
this is very noticable in angel sharks and the tassled wobbegong.

these are but a few examples of evolution at work.

Answer 10

Human chromosome number 2. It is a fusion of two pairs of chromosomes in that are identical to two pairs of chromosomes that are separate in out primate cousins. It makes evolutionary sense that they fused, because the only reason for 2 chromosomes to disappear in a lineage is through fusion with another pair, which explains why humans only have 23 pairs of chromosomes while other great apes have 24 pairs.

Tell me, if God created us not through evolution, why did he/she/it make it look like we had a fused pair of chromosomes? To deceive us? Is he a trickster, a liar, or just plain non-existent? Evolution makes sense of this. God, or any other ontological arguments, does not.

P.S. You might want to expand your reading to include non-Kent Hovind books.