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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Fossil Find"
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THE FISH WHO WALKED THE EARTH! THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. IF EVOLUTION WERE A JIGSAW PUZZLE, PALEONTOLOGISTS JUST FOUND A LOST PIECE: IT'S THE FOSSILIZED BONES OF A CREATURE WITH THE NECK, LIMBS, AND BODY OF A PRIMITIVE FOUR-LEGGED ANIMAL, OR TETRA-POD--BUT ALSO THE SCALES OF A FISH--A FISH-A-POD. THIS ODD-BODIED BEING IS A MISSING EVOLUTIONARY LINK BETWEEN FISH AND LAND ANIMALS--AND A MAJOR FIND IN HELPING US TO UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH. DUBBED "TIKTAALIK"--A LARGE, SHALLOW-WATER FISH IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF CANADA'S ELLESMERE ISLAND, WHERE IT WAS FOUND--THE CREATURE LIVED SOME 375-MILLION YEARS AGO, WHEN THE LAND MASS WAS LOCATED AT THE EQUATOR. "TIKTAALIK" SPENT MOST DAYS IN SHALLOW STREAMS--BUT COULD AMBLE AROUND ON SHORT LAND EXCURSIONS ON ITS LIMB-LIKE FINS. THREE FULL FOUR- TO NINE-FOOT SPECIMENS WERE FOUND OF THIS AMPHIBIOUS ANCESTOR OF LAND CREATURES. A FISH OUT OF WATER MAKES AN EVOLUTIONARY LEAP ONTO LAND. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
