painted wolf
Grey Muzzle
There is no "Proof" in science.
Evolution is the best (most parsimonious) explanation to fit the data. Evolution provides not only an explanation for the evidence but a predictive framework to work with.
Tiktaalik was wonderful because evolutionary theory had predicted that we would find it... in the rocks of the age we found it in... with the mosaic of features we found it with.
That is why Tiktaalik is important.
We had Panderichthys and Acanthostega... evolutionary theory says that we should find an animal younger than Panderichtys but older than Acanthostega that has features intermediate to both.
And there it was...
wa:do
Evolution is the best (most parsimonious) explanation to fit the data. Evolution provides not only an explanation for the evidence but a predictive framework to work with.
Tiktaalik was wonderful because evolutionary theory had predicted that we would find it... in the rocks of the age we found it in... with the mosaic of features we found it with.
That is why Tiktaalik is important.
We had Panderichthys and Acanthostega... evolutionary theory says that we should find an animal younger than Panderichtys but older than Acanthostega that has features intermediate to both.
And there it was...
wa:do