Illustrated

Guide to Transitional Fossils
Picture of Different Fossis
EVERY EVOLUTIONIST SHOULD HAVE ONE!
Picture of Darwin
All the quotations on this page are by evolutionists.
'The number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed must have been enormous. Why then is not every geological formation full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated chain; and this, perhaps, is the most serious objection which can be urged against my theory.' — Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 1859.

SINGLE-CELLS to INVERTEBRATES

'It is as though they [the Cambrian invertebrates] were just planted there, without any evolutionary history.' — Prof. Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, W.W. Norton, New York, 1987, p. 229.

'The phyla do seem to have appeared suddenly and simultaneously. For that reason, some paleontologists refer to the Cambrian 'explosion.'' —; Jeffrey S. Levinton, 'The Big Bang of Animal Evolution', Scientific American, Vol. 267, No. 5, November 1992, p. 52.

INVERTEBRATES to FISH

'All three subdivisions of the bony fishes first appear in the fossil record at approximately the same time... Why is there no trace of earlier, intermediate forms?' —; Gerald Todd, American Zoologist, Vol. 26(4) 1980, p. 229.

'The very first fishes undoubtedly arose from invertebrate protochordates... However, the first fishes left no fossil record and their form and relationships are a mystery.' —; C. P. Hickman, L. S. Roberts and A. Larson, Integrated Principles of Zoology, 2001, p. 151.

FISH to AMPHIBIANS*

'No one can be certain which group or groups of fishes was the first to make the transition to land, or what their evolutionary pathways may have been... the transition from water to land occurred long ago, and various family trees suggested by the fossil record are so tangled that scientists acknowledge they may never be able to sort them out definitively.' —; M. W. Browne, 'Biologists Debate Man's Fishy Ancestors,' New York Times 16 March 1993, p. C-1.

AMPHIBIANS to REPTILES

'The earliest known amniotes [i.e. reptiles] are immediately recognizable as members of the assemblage because of similarities of their skeleton to those of primitive living lizards.' —; Robert I. Carroll, Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1988, W. H. Freeman, New York, p. 193.

'No fossil amphibian seems clearly ancestral to the lineage of fully terrestrial vertebrates.' —; Prof. Stephen Jay Gould, 'Eight (or fewer) Little Piggies,' Natural History, Vol. 100, No. 1, January 1991, p. 25.

LAND to SEA REPTILES

'The ichthyosaurs, in many respects the most highly specialised of the marine reptiles, appeared in early Triassic times. Their advent into the geologic history of the reptiles was sudden and dramatic; there are no clues in pre-Triassic sediments as to the possible ancestors of the ichthyosaurs... no conclusive evidence can be found for linking these reptiles with any other reptilian order.' —; E. H. Colbert and M Morales, Evolution of the Vertebrates, John Willy & Sons, (New York), 1991, p. 99.

NON-FLYING to FLYING REPTILES

'All the Triassic pterosaurs were highly specialised for flight... They provide little evidence of their specific ancestry and no evidence of earlier stages in the origin of flight.' —; R. L. Carroll, Vertebrate Paleontology & Evolution, W. H. Freeman & Co., N. York 1988, p. 138.

'Because pterosaur anatomy has been so heavily modified for flight, and immediate 'missing link' predecessors have not so far been found, the ancestry of pterosaurs is not well understood.' —; Wikipedia free on-line encyclopedia, 22/05/06.

REPTILES to BIRDS*

'Feathers are features unique to birds, and there are no known intermediate structures between reptilian scales and feathers.' —; A. Feduccia, The Beginning of Birds, Jura Museum, Eichstatt, Germany, 1985, p. 78.

'... we lack completely fossils of all intermediate stages between reptilian scales and the most primitive feather.' —; W. J. Book, 'Explanatory Theory of the Origin of Feathers', American Zoology 40:478-485(2000)p. 480.

REPTILES to MAMMALS

'The transition to the first mammal which probably happened in just one, or at most, two lineages, is still an enigma.' —; Roger Lewin, 'Bones of Mammals Ancestors Fleshed Out,' Science, Vol. 212, 1981, p. 1492.

'The echidna and platypus [egg-laying mammals] are undoubtedly very ancient animals, but we have no hard evidence to show which fossil reptiles were their ancestors.' —; David Attenborough, Discovering Life on Earth, Collins, 1981, p. 141.

NON-FLYING MAMMALS to BATS

'... all fossil bats, even the oldest, are clearly fully-developed bats and so they shed little light on the transition from their terrestrial ancestor.' —; John E. Hill & James D. Smith (1984). Bats: A Natural History, University of Texas Press, p.33.

'The origins of bats have been a puzzle. Even the earliest bat fossils, from about 50 million years ago, have wings that closely resemble those of modern bats.' —; Jeff Hecht, 'Branching Out,' New Scientist, 10 Oct. 1998, 160:2155, p. 14.

APES to HUMANS

'If pressed about man's ancestry, I would have to unequivocally say that all we have is a huge question mark. To date, there has been nothing found to truthfully purport as a transitional species to men... If further pressed, I would have to state that there is more evidence to suggest an abrupt arrival of man rather than a gradual process of evolving.' —; Dr. Richard Leakey, PBS documentary, 1990.

EVOLUTIONISTS' DILEMMA

Evolutionist Robert I. Carroll has written, 'Despite more than a hundred years of intense collecting efforts since the time of Darwin's death, the fossil record still does not yield the picture of infinitely numerous transitional links that he expected.' (Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 25.) Although millions of fossils have been found and catalogued, so far not one indisputable transitional fossil has turned up.

This presents evolutionists with a dilemma: did evolution take place gradually? Or did it happen at all? Some continue to cling to Darwin's theory of gradualism, while others have proposed punctuated equilibrium — the theory that evolution proceeded in 'jumps' — to explain why there are gaps in the fossil record. However, this theory is based on the lack of evidence!

THE GAPS ARE REAL!

'The gaps in the fossil record are real, however. The absence of a record of any important branching is quite phenomenal. Species are usually static, or nearly so, for long periods, species seldom and genera never show evolution into new species or genera but replacement of one by another, and change is more or less abrupt.'

— R. Wesson, R. , Beyond Natural Selection, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991, p. 45.

There is an explanation which fits the facts of the fossil record perfectly — the Biblical account of creation! The book of Genesis records that living things came into existence through acts of creation. Each created 'kind' had a rich gene pool, and natural selection caused 'horizontal' variation within these basic kinds — the kind of changes Darwin observed. But 'vertical' evolution from one kind to another doesn't happen because this would require the addition of new genetic information.

Today, more scientists than ever before are rejecting evolution and promoting creation as the most reasonable explanation for life on earth, and numerous articles, books and films are being produced to support this view. We invite you to investigate this further.

Note 1: A fossil found in Canada, named Tiltaalik, was hailed as the 'missing link' between fish and land animals. But, although it had bony fins, the bones were not connected to its skeleton. It was similar to previous — and now rejected — missing links such as the Coolacanth. And a recently-discovered living catfish ChannaNasbes apus, is reported to be similar to Tiltaalik (BBC News online 12th April 2006).

Note 2: Some scientists claim to have found the fossils of 'feathered dinosaurs' in China, but bird expert and evolutionist Dr. Alan Feduccia has said the 'feathers' are simply bits of decomposed skin. (Animal Planet News, Oct. 12th 2006). Furthermore, fossils of modern-type birds have been found in the same rocks as dinosaur fossils. These birds clearly did not evolve from dinosaurs.

MISSING LINK WE ALL NEED!

It now seems certain that genuine evolutionary links are non-existent, and that humans have no relationship with the animal kingdom. But there is a 'missing link' we all need — a link between ourselves and God our Creator.

The Bible tells us that God created humans in His own image, but that our first parents rebelled. The result was that their relationship with God was broken. God seems far away to most people, because sin separates us from Him. But there is a way back: God Himself provided that link between ourselves and Him. He sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to take away that sin which cuts us off from Him. Through His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus broke the power of sin and death. 'There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.' (The Bible, 1 Timothy 2:5-6).

You have no links with the animal creation, but if you admit your own sin, and accept the forgiveness available through Jesus Christ, you can have a link with God, your Creator — a real, living relationship that will last for ever! If you want to know more, or have any questions about what you have read in this leaflet, please contact the leaflet distributor, or the publishers.

Relationship Between Humans to Jesus and God

Written and designed by Geoff Chapman. Published by the Creation Resources Trust, P.O. Box 3237, Yeovil, BA22 7WD, UK. (Reg. Charity 1016666) e-mail: info@crt.org.uk Website: www.crt.org.uk. Revised and reprinted 2006 (5th printing) © CRT. Fossil photos courtesy of Paul Abramson, www.creationism.org