Comment on They're completely serious
AFallingAnvil@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
No clear evolutionary path in the fossil record.
…for the creatures that have no bones and only a beak that could even fossilize? Color me SHOCKED their ancestors didn’t leave fossils.
ook@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
You… are looking at a fossil of one. That’s what the post is about. I mean, maybe they fossilize less frequent than other animals, but it seems like they do.
Mirshe@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yup. It’s not that soft tissue DOESN’T fossilize, it’s just that the conditions to do so are much rather, and soft tissue is obviously much more susceptible to degradation before fossilization.
AFallingAnvil@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Not gonna lie, I was assuming even the picture was made up/AI bullshit. Bit of egg on my face there
anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The sentiment is still correct though, even bone fossils are exceedingly rare. I can’t remember the exact estimate but of all the people alive in the US, archeologists 1 million years from now would be lucky to find 60 human bones. I’m not sure if that included teeth however.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 6 days ago
does that include actually finding the fossils? because not only is the formation of them rare, but places do be big so you either have to rely on blind luck to find them or places where for some reason there’s just an extraordinary density of fossils