What is a living fossil?
Q: What is a living fossil?
A: A living fossil is a life form that has survived with little change for a long period of time and still exists today.
Q: What are some examples of living fossils?
A: Horseshoe crabs, crocodilians, turtles, the Tuatara from New Zealand, the Coelacanth fish, the Ginkgo tree, and Lingula (a brachiopod).
Q: How long have horseshoe crabs been around?
A: Horseshoe crabs have changed little in appearance since the Ordovician period which was about 450 million years ago.
Q: How old are crocodilians?
A: Crocodilians first appeared 220 million years ago and modern crocodiles date back to the Upper Cretaceous which was 84 million years ago.
Q: When did turtles first appear?
A: Turtles are first known from 215 million years ago.
Q: What is special about the Tuatara?
A: The Tuatara is unique because it is the sole survivor of an entire order of reptiles called Sphenodontia which were quite common 200 million years ago.
Q: How old are Coelacanths?
A: The Coelacanth dates back to 408-362 million years ago when it was believed to be extinct until one was caught alive off the east African coast in 1938.
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