The Fossil Question
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1. How many fossils have been found that show transition from one species to the next?
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Although the above question appears to be a legitimate one it is in fact a trick question with either none, or many answers. It is one of many tricks employed by religionists (mostly Christians), for example like the questions about the fossil proof that man evolved from apes. There is none, because man didn't evolve from apes (nor did Darwin ever state that they did) Man and apes evolved from a common ancestor, but that doesn't mean that the common ancestor was an ape. In fact it most likely was a lemur. The idea that man evolved from apes was created, propagated, and is continued by opponents of evolution. The reason why the above question is a trick one becomes clear when we examine it closely. Let us say we are looking for a fossil that shows a transition from Species A and Species B, by definition said fossil cannot belong to either species. This means that it would have to be a different species that shows characteristics of both. Many such intermediate species have previously and currently exist. There are also many places in the fossil record where new species that are similar to existing species pop up (like [censored] Sapiens 200k years ago) But how does one prove that any one specific species led to another? Especially when there are several candidate species? Outside of DNA there is no way of doing this, and since fossils are made of stone they contain no DNA.
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