At a paleontological dig at Riversleigh Station, North Queensland, bird
specialist paleontologist Walter Bowles points out a fossil found after
blowing limestone apart.
Extensive study of fossils has helped paint a picture of the past. The
fossil record [1] provides evidence for:
* there being living things on Earth for a very long time;
* change in organisms over time: in individual species, extinction of
species, new species coming into existence;
* little change in some species;
* increasing complexity of some living things;
* decreasing complexity of some living things;
* climate change;
* change in physical conditions of habitat and changes in communities in
response to those changes (by natural selection, those variants better
adapted to the changing conditions will survive and pass on their
characteristics to their offspring).
