Does the fossil record support the theory of evolution?
Do other lines of evidence support our ideas about evolution gleaned from the fossil record? Very much so. The geographic distributions of plants and animals today and through time show how migrations and the spread of continents have paralleled climate change and evolutionary diversification. Radiometric dates — which are based on principles of physics and chemistry, not on geology and paleontology — consistently give us independent confirmation of the ages of fossils and their deposits that have been reckoned on the basis of geology and paleontology. The oxygen isotopes in the bones of whale ancestors, just mentioned, provide another independent assessment of their change of habitat through time. And genetic evidence continues to both confirm and enlighten our ideas about the relationships of living and fossil organisms, just as paleontology provides important information about the dates of appearance and divergence of different groups in the fossil record. For an example of this l
