Evolution - is it really true ?

Question

no fossile has ever been found to prove that an animal is evolving into another animal. yet why do most people belive in it ?

Answer 1

Evolution isn't a point and click process - you would never see a half bird, half fish, because this isn't how it works.
Plenty of transitional fossils have been found - but to be a true creationist, you can't believe in these, because in your opinion the earth is no more than 6000 years old due to some allegorical story in a book written by some old farts thousands of years ago.
You wouldn't say it's "true" or "false," you would say it's a falsifiable theory that has yet to be falsified, much like the theory of gravity is yet to be falsified (but you still believe in gravity, correct?).
You want a transitional fossil?

Okay - how about thrinaxodon? A classic mammalian like reptile in between the two. Signified by it's synapsid skull structure (as opposed to classic diapsid reptilians) as well as the start of the transition in the reptilian lower jaw bones to the mammalian single dentary and three middle ear bones - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrinaxodon

Or, how about Archaeopteryx or Microraptor - distinct transitional fossils showing the convergence of small dinosaurs developping feathers and the ability for flight:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx

Or.. you know, let's get crazy -
we could go on for days and days talking about the NUMEROUS transitional fossils that exist between the following:
from primitive fish to sharks, skates, rays
from primitive fish to bony fish
from fishes to first amphibians
transitions among amphibians
from amphibians to first reptiles
transitions among reptiles
from reptiles to first mammals (long)
from reptiles to first birds

Maybe you should try reading up on it.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional/part1a.html#intro

Answer 2

As has been stated, there have been many Transitional Fossils found. Technically, we are all future transitional fossils because life is always changing, a million years from now life will have taken on new shapes. But when most scientists talk about transitional fossils, they specifically refer to an animal that sits somewhere between two major groups that have distinct traits that identify their group. Mammals are distinct from reptiles because they are "warm-blooded" and produce milk. Reptiles are distinct from amphibians because they are not tied to the water for reproduction and are covered in waterproof scales. Those are just the surface traits though as, internally, there are many distinct skeletal features that identify animals and these are what fossilize.

Let me tell you a quick story about a recently discovered transitional fossil called Tiktaalik. Tiktaalik is a "fishopod". That is, it's half ancient fish, and half ancient amphibian. It has the body of a fish, but lacks scales. It has the head of an amphibian. It's front fins have the beginnings of the bones of the front limbs of an amphibian. there are more half and half features that make this a beautiful, perfect, transitional fossil. But Tiktaalik is special for another reason. It wasn't found by accident. Scientists purposefully looked for it. They knew exactly where to look and what they were looking for. It took five years, but they found it. How? How could they know these things?

Evolution.

Evolution, like any good theory, makes predictions. It acts as a guide to research, telling scientists how to proceed in an experiment and what they should expect to discover. Evolution and Geology told the paleontologists what age of rocks to look in for a fishopod. Those rocks were in Canada. They started digging, and they found exactly what evolution told them they would find. Evolution was right on the money. Experiment complete.

Answer 3

So, you are saying there is no evidence for evolution. Is that right? is that your final answer? If you say yes, then you have a lot of reading to do. I mean a lot. The evidence is there and well documented and supported with many many peer reviews counter experiments etc etc. What you are saying is a blatantly false statement.

The horse is evidence of evolution.

Anybody can say anything they want and each person can have their own opinion on things. However, all these are are opinions or belief. Once you introduce proof you now are playing in a completely different game. science = proof. Science is a methodology which a person can use to help them understand the world around them. It is a discipline which requires a lot of study, observation and experimentation. Once you think you got something figured out then you have to go ut and try to prove it to every body else who is knowledgeable in the field. Many who oppose your view. The only way to do this is thru proof and evidence. Bottom line is there is plenty of evidence to support evolution but very little to none to show that it might not be true. So, you can argue all you want but the evidence says different evolution does occured.

Answer 4

>"no fossile has ever been found to prove that an animal is evolving into another animal. yet why do most people belive in it ?"

1. Because no fossil was ever expected to "prove" that an animal is evolving into another animal. A single fossil doesn't "prove" anything.

Ten thousand fossils all considered *together*? Now we're talking.

2. Because you don't "prove" things in science. You find evidence.

3. Because **IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT FOSSILS!**

Even if not a single fossil had ever been found, the DNA evidence *ALONE* is sufficient evidence of common ancestry of all living things.

But then add to that genetic evidence, evidence from proteins, development of embryos, atavisms, structural homologies, vestigial structures and proteins, biogeography (the location of animals on the planet), virology, bacteriology, the way insects develop immunity to pesticides, and on and on.

It always amuses me that creationists focus on fossils.

And then they mistake their own lack of knowledge of any fossils ... with the idea that there are none.

Answer 5

Exactly what are you talking about a fossil that shows an animal evolving into another one?

Evolution does not say that an animal will transform into a different animal overnight. It does not say that there will be a half fish half monkey running around out there. What does happen is that each generation will be ever so slightly different from the one before it. If you compared the two generations side by side you would probably not see a difference. However, after a few thousand generations there will be a profound difference. There are lots of examples of fossils that show creatures that are very similiar but changed over time.


inhere82
I will give you one million dollars if you can show me a Mythbusters where they showed evolution to be false.

Answer 6

Evolution, is based on a scientific theory proposed by Charles Darwin, in his now infamous book which perhaps you might read,called Origin of the Species. Again as it suggests, it is a theory which in the scientific community is not "proof" but as time passes and more evidence is gathered to support the theory it approaches a more cohesive and respected scientific theory which many believe as truth. There are still respected authorites who do not support the theory and believe to have evidence against it, including Creationism, the pretty much down played Lamarckian Evolution, and others still who battle against Darwwin to this day.
The reason you will not find a fossil of an animal"evolving" into another animal is because it is species that evolve over geolgic time through natural selection, over millions of years. One would not expect to find, for example a half-human half-chimp hybrid fossil. The definition of a species is a population that is able to reproduce itself. For instance a dog and a cat are different species so a dog couldnt evolve to a cat. However , giraffes used to have short necks...some were born with with a little bit longer necks...over time the ones that could reach the tall trees could eat better were healther and were able to mate with the healthier females and thus their gene pool had a higher percentage within the biodiversity of the giraffe population. After millions of years nature selected for giraffes with long necks. They didnt stretch over time they just (Lamarck evolution) in simple terms they were basically chosen for by nature as a simple improvement on the old version(just like people with big heads, or small heads, natural variance). But you will not find a fossil of giraffe "evolving", you may find at different times the lengths of the necks short, middle, long and notice a trend till finally based on the time period the short disappear altogether and that would be your evolution> Judge for yourself doesnt that seem possible.? Additionally much evolution occured very early on at the cellular level. Much confusion is made over the human/chimp evolution. Clearly we did not evolve from chimps, for you cannot coexist with that from which you evolved, if so evolution has not taken place. Natural Selection has not done its job. The bigger picture and the Mystery and often the battle for evolutionists is that we (humans and chimps) evolved from a common ancestor and it is that fork in the road that baffles everyone and makes evolution such a grey area. Who is that common ancestor? That is the fossil we need to find.

Answer 7

You don't seem to have any problem believing in the sciences and technology that allows you to go online and ask questions to millions of people. Yet you doubt the science of biology. If you are gonna call one science untrue, then why not others?

We believe it because it is logical and can be proved and reproved. It follows all the rules of common sense and the natural world.

And yes, there are fossils refereed to as transitional fossils. These link the evolutionary steps. Also, evolution NEVER said anything about one animal evolving in to another one. That is a myth.

You fall in with the group of people that prefer to believe the misconceptions rather than the facts.

Misconceptions about Evolution and the Mechanisms of Evolution
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/misconceps/index.shtml

Answer 8

Your statement is in error. There are a LOT of fossil that have been found showing this. In fact, there are series of them showing the evolution of bones from gills to jaw over a wide range of taxa. There are many others as well showing evolution of forelimbs of land dwellers to those that have achieved flight (pterosaurs, bats, birds) and to those that have achieved life in the water (cetaceans, turtles, icthyosaurs, etc.)

There are actually many fossils found that show intermediate characters between "what they come from" and "where they're going" -- btw, if we are dug up by our descendants in about 500,000 year or so, we, too, will show the same characteristics since ALL animals that die and have left descendants are simply a line in a chain that is or could be changing as natural selection works on the organisms over time.

What many so-called creationist would have you believe is that any individual fossil has to be half of one thing and half of something that's a million or so years later. It's not only intellectual dishonesty, it simply proves they have religious agenda.

Answer 9

No scientific evidence can ever "prove" anything. However, it can provide evidence that a theory ("explanation") is likely, or provide evidence that it is *not* true.

No evidence has been found showing evolution to not be true, while there is a mountain of evidence showing it to be likely. Molecular genetics, comparative anatomy, comparative embryology, and fossils (which *do* show "transitional forms", BTW) all combine to a picture showing evolution as the best explanation anyone has for how life changes and came to exist in its current form.

And to answer the people who say "it's because they don't want to beleive in God":
No science of any sort can comment on God at all. God, if He exists, does so outside the normal material universe, and is therefore not measurable by science. All science can do is comment on the truth (or otherwise) of certain religious texts.
For example, we can be pretty sure that the earth is much older than 6,000 years.

Answer 10

There are lots of fossiles of extinct animals. Natural selection is proposed as the answer to why some animals die out and others dont. The only other theory on the table that might explain it is divine intervention. Take your pick....

And yes there are fossiles that prove animals evolve into other animals. Small dinosours with feathers for instance.