eig121
Chapter 1 - Finding Your Inner Fish
1. Explain why the author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils. Be sure to include the types of rocks and their location during their paleontology work in 2004.
The author and his colleagues specifically chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because this was the time frame that provided fish that would be useful to study from. The 385 million year old rocks provided fish that look too similar to the ones we have now and the 365 million year old rocks have fossils that don’t resemble fish. The 375 million year old rocks, however, provide fossils that show the transition between fish and land living animals. Sedimentary rocks are the type of rock that preserves the fossils. Limestone, siltstone, shale, and sandstone are examples of this. The reason why these rocks are the best at preservation is because they are formed by a process that includes the movement of lakes, rivers, and seas. A rock in a body of water has the potential to fossilize because after the gradual compression on the layers in the body of water forming, chemical processes are still happening. 2. What major paleontological prediction does the Tiktaalik fossil confirm?
In a Tiktaalik, the head is completely free of the shoulders. This feature is shared with mammals, including humans. In this way, the Tiktaalik fossil confirms the major paleontological prediction that almost all the body parts (ribs, ears, and wrists) are similar to ours and therefore that we can be traced back to this fish.
3. Explain why Neil Shubin thinks Tiktaalik says something about our own bodies? (in other words – why the Inner Fish title for the book?)
Neil Shubin basically thinks Tiktaalik shows the link between our bodies in the present and the history of the organisms we evolved from. The discovery of Tiktaalik shows us how we are related to fish in many ways that were hard to prove in the
1. Explain why the author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils. Be sure to include the types of rocks and their location during their paleontology work in 2004.
The author and his colleagues specifically chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because this was the time frame that provided fish that would be useful to study from. The 385 million year old rocks provided fish that look too similar to the ones we have now and the 365 million year old rocks have fossils that don’t resemble fish. The 375 million year old rocks, however, provide fossils that show the transition between fish and land living animals. Sedimentary rocks are the type of rock that preserves the fossils. Limestone, siltstone, shale, and sandstone are examples of this. The reason why these rocks are the best at preservation is because they are formed by a process that includes the movement of lakes, rivers, and seas. A rock in a body of water has the potential to fossilize because after the gradual compression on the layers in the body of water forming, chemical processes are still happening. 2. What major paleontological prediction does the Tiktaalik fossil confirm?
In a Tiktaalik, the head is completely free of the shoulders. This feature is shared with mammals, including humans. In this way, the Tiktaalik fossil confirms the major paleontological prediction that almost all the body parts (ribs, ears, and wrists) are similar to ours and therefore that we can be traced back to this fish.
3. Explain why Neil Shubin thinks Tiktaalik says something about our own bodies? (in other words – why the Inner Fish title for the book?)
Neil Shubin basically thinks Tiktaalik shows the link between our bodies in the present and the history of the organisms we evolved from. The discovery of Tiktaalik shows us how we are related to fish in many ways that were hard to prove in the