THE flip side of evolution is extinction. The fossil record is replete with groups, once mighty, that are no more. But sometimes the Darwinian reaper misses a species or two within such a group and these, the last of their kind, cling on to existence to remind the world of the way it once was. The coelacanth, a fish from the Indian Ocean; the tuatara, a reptile from New Zealand; the pearly nautilus, a tentacled mollusc of the tropical seas--all are "living fossils" of this sort. And so is Tricho...
THE flip side of evolution is extinction. The fossil record is replete with groups, once mighty, that are no more. But sometimes the Darwinian reaper misses a species or two within such a group and these, the last of their kind, cling on to existence to remind the world of the way it once was. The coelacanth, a fish from the Indian Ocean; the tuatara, a reptile from New Zealand; the pearly nautilus, a tentacled mollusc of the tropical seas--all are "living fossils" of this sort. And so is Tricho...
Share this Article
Recommended