Question: Where is the fossil evidence of links between species of animals?

Isabel Webb answered on 20 Mar 2014:

We have hundreds and hundreds of different fossil records nowadays, which have been found all over the world. These fossils can be compared to each other, and also to the bones of animals that exist today.

Palaeontologists study fossils to try and understand prehistoric life, and try and work out what evolution has happened. We can compare fossils and look for similar features – like bones that have nearly the same shape. We can then put together a timeline of how we think evolution happened.

We can use a technique called carbon dating to predict the age of fossils. Everything on the planet contains a tiny amount of radioactive carbon (you and I both do!). This carbon breaks down over thousands of years, and so if you look at how much of this carbon is there, you can predict the age of a fossil. We can use these predicted ages to check along with our timeline of fossils to see if we got it right.

Sometimes fossils make things more confusing. For example, there is a plant called ginkgo which matches fossils from hundreds of thousands of years ago. But we also have other fossils which come inbetween the two – so it seems as though evolution went forward but then backwards again! A lot of people call ginkgo a “living fossil” and find it fascinating.