the fossil recordFossils are the physical forms and characteristics that living organisms had in the past. As a result, fossil records are typically important pieces of evidence for evolution. They help emphasize how different modern organisms are from past organims, how those organimsms might have evolved, and what species may have become extinct. Furthermore, the carbon dating on fossils also give scientists a timeline during which evolutionary changes occurred.
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See Some Examples
The picture above shows the ankle bones from different species some of which are fossils, and other are from the present. The blue arrow in the mammal ankle bone emphasizes the single hump on one end while the cetaceans and even-toed ungulates all share a double hump. This provides evidence that cetaceans and even-toed ungulates are closely related.