TO BEGIN WITH
Wh a t i s a F o s s i l ?
A fossi l is a part of an animal or a plant that has
been dead a long time—usual ly thousands of years. It is
preserved in rock format ions in the earth' s crust . In
order for a plant or an animal to become a fossi l , it
must be bur ied almost immediately after i t dies . For
example, if there was a bird on the ground and a heap
o f s and s udden l y f e l l on i t c au s i ng i t t o d i e , t he
remains of this bird could have survived to the present
day . S imi l a r l y , t he r e i s a r e s i n o f s ome t r e e s t ha t
becomes fossi l ised by geological processes and is then
cal led “amber”. Sometimes this resin flowed over bugs,
and t he bug s d i ed i n s i de t he r e s i n . I n t h i s way , i t
so l idi f i ed , and amber and bugs have been preserved
wi thout damage for mi l l ions of years unt i l our t ime .
Thus, we can learn about creatures that l ived long ago.
These remains of the creatures are cal led fossi ls. You
can see some of these fossi ls in the fol lowing pages.
W h a t D o e s “ A T r a n s i t i o n a l F o r m ” F o s s i l
M e a n ?
The mos t impo r tant fa l s ehood that evo l ut i on i s t s
invent is the “transitional forms”. In some evolutionist
book s , t he s e a r e s ome t ime s c a l l ed “ i n t e rmed i a t e
transitional forms”.
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