DID YOU KNOW?

By: Chavez Bell/ Gordon Parks

You may wonder  “what is a living fossil, and why am I talking about it?” You may be thinking “Is it a fossil that is living?”

No!!! A living fossil is an extant member of organisms, that have not changed over geologic times. This is caused by the absence of evolution/not going through the process of changing. Living fossils can be Bacteria, fungus, plants, amphibians, birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles. Living fossils may be founded in your backyard, neighborhood, or even at the zoo. Living fossils have at least two characteristics that must include

1. Must be members of the taxa that exhibit notable longevity and have remained recognizable in the fossil record over unusually long periods of time
2. Show little morphological divergence, whether from early members of the lineage, or among extant species, and tend to have little taxonomic diversity.

Basically meaning that they must remain the same and resemble one another.

Many of these species of living fossils are going to extinct/very rare to find in their natural habitat due to humans populating, poaching, and destruction of their natural environment. Here is a list of living fossils.

Amphibians: Giant salamanders, purple frog, and Hula painted frog.

Reptiles: Alligators, caimans, crocodiles, gavials, lizards, tuatara, and turtles.

Fish: Queensland lungfish, coelacanths, sturgeons, mudskippers, and species of sharks.

Invertebrates: Vampire Squid, glypheoid lobsters, horseshoe crabs, and trapdoor spiders.

Mammals: Elephant shrews, Monotremes (platypus and echidna), elephants, horses, African lion, wolves, giraffes, rock hyrax, llamas/guanaco, camels, capybara, and tapirs.

Birds: Pelicans, seriemas, hoatzin, vultures and other birds of prey.

Plants: Dawn redwood, tree ferns, moss, conifers, cycads, and the ginkgo tree.

Bacteria: Cyanobacteria, and blue-green bacteria.

Fungus: Neolecta.

How many Living fossils are there? There is not an exact number of how many living fossils there are.

What is the oldest living fossil? Cyanobacteria is the oldest living fossil and the oldest living organism on earth. Dating back over 3.5 billion years ago.

Are humans living fossils? No, humans are not living fossils. It is possible in the near future that humans will become living fossils.