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Questions for Discussion: Evolving Ideas: How Do We Know Evolution Happens?

  • Gingerich discusses specifically only the whale fossils found in Egypt's "valley of the whales," but he points out that this now desert area was once a sea. Discuss the other kinds of fossils, and the types of rocks that must have been present for him to make this conclusion.
  • Examine the cladogram of whales and their ancestors presented in this video. Note that this diagram does NOT show modern whales evolving from any specific fossil form, but form the common ancestors of known fossil species and modern animals. Discuss the important difference between this view of evolutionary history, and the old view -- which often attempted to identify specific fossils as THE ancestors of a living form.
  • Discuss the similarities and differences between whale flippers and flukes and fish fins, using the scientific terms "homologous structures" and "analogous structures" in the discussion.