Table of Contents

1. Explain the Theory in Your Own Words Pg 1

2.

Who Studied Evolution?

Pg 2

3.

Fossil Record/Timeline

Pg 3

4.

Evidence for Evolution

Pg 4

5.

How Does Evolution Happen?

Pg 5

6.

Human Evolution

Pg 6

7.

Evolution Is a Theory Why Should We Believe It?

Pg 7

8.

Bonus Page

Pg 8

Evolution Evolution is when organisms go through a change. This change allows them to grow stronger and smarter than before. Every species on Earth goes through evolution including: animal, mammal, amphibians, insects, and even humans. They all have existed for millions and billions of years. Evolution allows a certain species to adapt to their environment the best way possible. Natural Selection helps these animals survive in their environment. After a species dies natural selection sees what went wrong and creates a new being who now has a higher chance of surviving in the world. Artificial Selection is when we the humans breed animals together to make a new animal that is what we desire. For example chickens and cows are made from artificial selection and we need chickens and cows for food all the time. Without that species we would surely die of hunger. From the beginning of time there was one single cell organism that went through billions of years of evolution to get to what we are today. Single cell organisms slowly but surely transitioned to humans. Is it possible that we can evolve even more? The answer is not known but it seems that it could be a good chance. It is impossible to say that humans are the most superior because we literally just popped into existence. Evolution takes very long and we ourselves may never see it happen with our own eyes, but it happens every single day. Did you know that there is a penguin that lives in the Galapagos Island? Galapagos Island is a very hot climate area located near the Equator and a new species of penguins have adapted to live in hot climate. How is that possible? A penguin simply went to that island and did not survive so natural selection came along and gave it new characteristics so it can survive. Evolution is not fact it is a theory, but its backed up with many facts and experiments that it seems true. -1-

Who Studied Evolution?

Charles Darwin was one of the first men to discover the meaning of evolution. He was a young kid who dropped out of college and decided to sail around for years and see what he finds out. He went to a set of islands called the Galapagos Islands where he discovered many different kinds of birds, animals, and mammals that looked very different to him. He found reptiles that were as big as humans walking around the island and they were very rare. They could swim and they hunted for food and survived. He also came across some birds with different beaks in the same island that looked very identical. He was shocked when his assistant told him that all these birds were finches. These finches were all different because of their beaks. Some had beaks to allow them to eat insects or nuts and others had beaks for bigger things. He noticed that they all were able to survive because of the size of their beaks. Right then is when he realized that organisms evolved. He made it known that all species of life had descended over time from common ancestry. There was in fact 12 different species of finches. He also said that one species can change into another. Like land animals regressed back into amphibians and eventually into sea creatures. They say wolves became whales because they have identical ear structure and they have the same movement. He found many ancient fossils dating back millions of years ago. He found out that these fossils came from armadillos, rodent like creatures, and ground sloths all who lived in South America. There were others who also contributed to the theory of evolution but Charles Darwin was the man who really made a point and stuck that theory into our heads ever since.

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Evidence for Evolution

The fossil record shows that the earth is very, very old. Geologists can 'read' the layers of rock to determine their ages. The rocks are billions of years old! The fossils show many extinct organisms and how they change. Some of them are called Transitional Species. Mass Extinctions cause most of the life on the planet to die off. Some extinctions happen because of climate changes, human activities or asteroids from space. There is a whale that has retained its hip bones from his ancestor but why? Its bones are homologous and his ancestor had them. The reason why he may have hip bones is for movement. DNA is also evidence for evolution because back in Darwins time he didnt know about genes but luckily we do. Chimpanzees are 96% similar to humans, Cats have 90% of homologous genes with humans, Cows are 80% genetically similar to humans, 75% of mouse genes have equivalents in humans, the fruit fly shares about 60% of its DNA with humans and About 60% of chicken genes correspond to a similar human gene. We now have pure facts in front of us to support evolution. There is also a theory that all the continents were once all connected to each other making everyone on the planet related to each other in some sort of way.

-4How Does Evolution Happen?

Evolution is basically the survival of the fittest. Evolution occurs in natural selection and in mutation. Mutation is in fact random because it has to do with the genes, but natural selection is not random it always happens. Natural Selection always happens when one species dies due to a lack of skills or ability. Mutation is different genes get passed on, and some get altered so that they become something different. These are 99% harmless and make no difference. Sometimes they cause instant fatality or extreme disability (normally resulting in death in the natural world) but sometimes, they cause a useful change that eventually - through natural selection - makes it more common. Natural selection is when some genes make an organism more likely to survive. Those that do get the chance to pass such genes onwards to the next generation, where again, some are killed and a greater ratio survive. Eventually, these 'superior' genes are the majority of or even the only ones possessed in that population, making the population most able to survive in that environment. This occurs with every possible factor, and every gene that affects them. They both require a very long period of time to see affects. With careful testing one may spot a little difference between an old species and a newer one.

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Human Evolution Human Evolution has also been occurring these billions of years. Basically we derived from cavemen you can say. The first homo ever found was the Homo habilis and he is the earliest form of human life. He was discovered 2.2-1.6 million years ago. Just like animals we have also evolved into better beings. Back then all those years ago we were not close to being as smart as we are now. Back then we didnt use our brain the way we have learned to use it in recent years, but we were more advanced than animals and insects. After Homo habilis came Homo erectus, Homo sapiens archaic, Homo sapiens neandertalensis, and finally Homo sapiens sapiens which is us. Man was first discovered 5 to 4 million years ago and we have gradually moved up and become better, stronger, smarter and also better looking. Homo habilis almost looked like a gorilla standing on two feet with a whole bunch of hair and weird characteristics. Our evolution happened in bursts you can say. At the beginning of time things happened very slowly then boom everything started to pop up and the world soon became alive. We were also all located in the forests of Africa and migrated to the West and became humans. Our instinct and intelligence also boosted when the Neanderthal came about because they were able to think and reason. Other man would be too dumb to think of ways to survive and would simply die and would come back to be smarter people.

-6Evolution Is a Theory why should we believe it?

Evolution has always been a theory, but since Charles Darwin everyone has began to really research on it. The facts that have been uncovered so far really make an impact in the world of evolution. Everyone at least once in their lives has said why is everything that is on Earth really here? How can God make everything on this Earth by himself? Simply put is that evolution hasnt stopped since it started and it will never be over because everyday we improve. Charles Darwin told the world about his discovery of 12 different types of finches. Each one of those finches had special beaks so that they can survive in their environments. How would God know to give them special beaks? Natural Selection identifies the organism and it basically researches what went wrong in the organisms life that made it unable to survive. So then new species are born who are able to now survive unlike their past ancestors. He also made us believe that wolves regressed back into whales because wolves and whales have the same ear structure and move the same way. There is one type of whale that still has the wolves hip bones after all this time. Why would a whale have the same bones as a land animal? Fishes came out of the water one day and turned into amphibians with legs and arms. The amphibians turned into land animals then the land animals turned back into mammals to give the sea more diversity. The world itself is an example of evolution because it was not always populated with buildings and machines. At the beginning of time it was nothing but a barren wasteland waiting

to sprout life. Evolution is almost a fact we just need more researching and findings then we will be able to finally know all about us. -7-

Taissa Sofiatti

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