The Significance of Fossils in Understanding the Evolution of Living Species.
In 1859, Charles Darwin imparted a fundamental adjustment in humanity’s understanding of the natural world through his postulations in “On the Origin of Species” (Wong 2020). In the publication, Darwin formulated the evolutionary theory whereby he stated that living organisms are not perpetual but, rather, they evolve through natural selection (Wong 2020). Despite Darwin’s greatest discovery, few individuals embraced his theories due to limited evidence. Gawne (2015) proclaims that the biggest deterrent to agreement of the hypothesis was the absence of paleontological records to offer credence to the existence of the various evolutionary forms. Nevertheless, over time, scientists discovered fossil hominins spanning millions of years, proving the evolution of man from quadrupedal apes (Wong 2020). Accordingly, fossil records play an integral role in the comprehension of the evolution of living species as they provide insight into evolutionary occurrences in the past (Reisz and Sues 2015). These records are distinct in chronicling changes over prolonged durations (Edgecombe 2010). Therefore, fossils have enriched people’s comprehension of biological evolution by providing indisputable evidence, evolutionary patterns and imparting a profound understanding of the evolution of specific morphology, physiology, and new traits in living organisms.
Evolution of morphology and physiology of living species.
One of the ways by which fossils have enhanced humanity’s comprehension of biological evolution is through the provision of extensive evidence and patterns regarding the morphological and physiological transformations among living organisms over time. One can observe evidence of the evolution of the morphology of living species in the evolution of horses in North America. According to Jones (2022), there is a distinctive difference in the morphology of these creatures in earlier and recent forms, and sequential records of the species over time provide a pattern of how the horses advanced. Fossil records on the horses date back 55 million years, whereby the ancestral forms are dog-like animals that gave way to initial horses under the genus Eohippus (Jones 2022). Later on, 40 million years ago, the species Mesohippus evolved with modification in teeth, feet, and feeding habits, as shown in Fig.1 (Jones 2022). The creature’s leg increased in length, improved grazing dentition, and the muzzle became longer. Ensuing species demonstrated an increase in size, notably the Hipparian (Jones 2022). Subsequent paleontological documents show various adaptive radiation of the creature that scientists narrowed to a single genus, Equus (Jones 2022).
Figure 1: The evolution of horses (Jones 2020)
As mentioned above, the successive fossils from the dog-like animals to the Equus provide a clear illustration of the morphological transformation of the horse. The data also provides definitive evidence regarding the pattern and the rate of the transformations over the years. Consequently, an individual’s perception of the evolution of living organisms becomes more comprehensive as one is able to picture those changes in one’s mind. Additionally, Jones (2022) states that these fossil records on North American horses also provide information regarding the factors that brought forth the transformations over time. The size of these horses increased, and the shapes of their feet changed as an adaptation to flee from predators (Jones 2022).
In addition to the North American horses, paleontological discovery on the evolution of Afrotheria also demonstrates the importance of fossils in providing profound elucidation on biological evolution. The Afrotheria comprises animals such as elephants and tenrecs, and fossil records over time show body mass changes among these creatures of variable sizes (Puttick and Thomas 2015). The morphological diversity of the different animals under this family, in combination with fossil records, provides an even greater understanding of evolution. According to Puttick and Thomas (2015), variation in their size ranges from tonnes in elephants to grams in tenrecs. Due to the wide variation of body mass, scientists gain an extensive scope for interpreting evolution changes in body size (Puttick and Thomas 2015). Furthermore, the variation in size aids in the elucidation of the factors contributing to the evolutionary changes. Accordingly, tenrecs’ body mass reduced over time as they shrunk in mass to adapt to their feeding habits as burrowers (Puttick and Thomas 2015).
As discussed, it is evident that one’s percep
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