On the other hand an ancestor common to humans and reptiles...

On the other hand an ancestor common to humans and reptiles lived some 300 million years ago. Fossil records suggest that the modern groups of vertebrates appeared in the following order: Jawless fish: 500 million years ago Bony fish: 400 million years ago Amphibians: 360 million years ago Reptiles: 300 million years ago Birds: 190 million years ago Mammals: 150 million years ago (Ref: “Biology” pp275. Kate Mudie & Judith Brotherton) The Roots of the Theory of Evolution 1.

Paleontology (the study of fossils) Fossils are ant preserved remains or traces of past life found in rocks of different ages. Biologists by measuring radioactivity in the rocks in which a fossil is embedded, can determine the age of that fossil. 2. Distribution of Species Scientists also learn about evolution by studying how different species of plants and animals are geographically distributed in nature, and how they relate to their environment and to each other.

Darwin visited New South Wales, staying in Sydney in 1836 and took examples of plants and animals to compare how they are related to animals and plants in the rest of the world. 3. Anatomical Similarities 4. Molecular Similarities That almost all living organisms have DNA. 5. Direct Observation Insects have short life spans and therefore enable the biologists to observe their reproduction in the laboratory. Fruit flies are the example of such observation for evolutionary process. 6.

Determining Life's Origins In 1953 two American chemists Miller and Urey attempted to produce the atmosphere of primitive Earth nearly 4 billion years previously. With the mixture of hydrogen, methane, ammonia and water vapour they managed to produce amino acids, which are the basic components for life. Comments on the roots of the theory of evolution Similarities between species do not necessarily prove they are evolved from each other.

It rather suggests their unique Source of Creation as well as their unique design in the cosmos. After visiting Australia, Darwin writes the following in his diary: “Earlier in the evening I had been lying on a sunny bank reflecting on the strange character of the Animals in this country as compared to the rest of the World.” A Disbeliever in everything beyond his own reason, might exclaim, ‘ Surely two distinct creators must have been at work; their object however has been the same and certainly in each case the end is complete .” [^1] ‘ Darwin 's Black Box'.