Question

Describe any five evidences of evolution.

Accepted Answer

Charles Darwin concluded that existing living forms share similarities to varying degrees not only among themselves but also with life forms that existed millions of years ago. Evidence that evolution of life forms has indeed taken place on earth has come from many quarters. For example, Fossils are remains of hard parts of life-forms found in rocks. Rocks form sediments and a cross-section of earth's crust indicates the arrangement of sediments one over the other during the long history of earth.

Following are the various pieces of evidence in favour of evolution:

Analogous Organs: Organs that have different basic structures but perform similar functions are known as analogous organs. For example, the wings of a bird and the wings of an insect have different anatomy but they perform the same function of flying in the air.

Homologous Organs: Organs with common basic structural design but with different functions are known as homologous organs. For example, forelimbs of a lizard, man, bird and frog.

Evidences from fossil: Fossils provide evidence for evolution. The fossil Archaeopteryx looks like a bird but, it shows a number of other features, that are found in reptiles. This observation provides a clue that birds have evolved from reptiles.

Embryological support for evolution was also proposed by Ernst Haeckel based upon the observation of certain features during embryonic stage common to all vertebrates that are absent in adult. For example, the embryos of all vertebrates including human develop a row of vestigial gill slit just behind the head but it is a functional organ only in fish and not found in any other adult vertebrates.

List $- I$		List $- II$
(a)	Adaptive radiation	(i)	Selection of resistant varieties due to excessive use of herbicides and pesticides
(b)	Convergent evolution	(ii)	Bones of forelimbs in Man and Whale
(c)	Divergent evolution	(iii)	Wings of Butterfly and Bird
(d)	Evolution by anthropogenic action	(iv)	Darwin Finches

Describe any five evidences of evolution.

Important Questions on Evolution

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