Difference between revisions of "Transitional form"
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Many scientists have admitted the lack of transitional fossils. | Many scientists have admitted the lack of transitional fossils. | ||
| − | The late paleontologist [[Stephen Jay Gould]] said: | + | The late paleontologist [[Stephen Jay Gould]] said in 1977: |
| + | {{QuoteBox|The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.<ref>Gould, S.J., Evolution’s erratic pace, Natural History 86 (5):14, 1977 (quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2610 15 ways to refute materialistic bigotry].)</ref>}} | ||
| + | And in 1984: | ||
{{QuoteBox|The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.<ref>Quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3832 Refuting Evolution], chapter 3.</ref>}} | {{QuoteBox|The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.<ref>Quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3832 Refuting Evolution], chapter 3.</ref>}} | ||
Revision as of 08:23, June 18, 2007
A transitional form is a fossil or living organism that is intermediate between two other organism in an evolutionary sequence. A transitional form that has not yet been found is colloquially called a 'missing link'.
Creationists claim that transitional forms between different kinds of creatures are systematically absent. Anti-creationists typically reject this claim. One such attempted rebuttal is that by Kathleen Hunt who created a Transitional Vertebrate Fossil FAQ.[1]
The lack of transitional forms
Many scientists have admitted the lack of transitional fossils.
The late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould said in 1977:
The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.[2]
And in 1984:
The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution.[3]
The senior palaeontologists at the British Museum of Natural History, Colin Patterson, agreed with Gould, when asked why he didn't have any illustrations of transitional forms in his book:
I fully agree with your comments on the lack of direct illustration of evolutionary transitions in my book. If I knew of any, fossil or living, I would certainly have included them. ... Yet Gould and the American Museum people are hard to contradict when they say there are no transitional fossils. I will lay it on the line- there is not one such fossil for which one could make a watertight argument.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ Hunt, Kathleen, Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ (Talk.Origins)
- ↑ Gould, S.J., Evolution’s erratic pace, Natural History 86 (5):14, 1977 (quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan 15 ways to refute materialistic bigotry.)
- ↑ Quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan, Refuting Evolution, chapter 3.
- ↑ Sunderland, Lewis, Darwin's Enigma, 1988, pp. 88-90 (Quoted in Those fossils are a problem, Creation 14(4):44–45, September 1992).
