10-23-2017, 02:27 PM
gabester wrote:
[quote=Carnos Jax]
It's like you suspected, paleontologists really know their stuff. Keep in mind also, dinosaurs as a group, are comparable to mammals. There can be lots of variety in that.
Yes, I know. It still is amazing to me, and I do wonder when they have a single sample how they know it's a differentiated species and not just a mutation. Look at Rhinos... there's the one horn and the two horn. Different species. But sometimes you get an albino... just a mutation! (And not one that would show up on the fossil record...) Or, a better example, humans with dwarfism or gigantism. Still part of our species, but from a single sample in the fossil record it might make them think it was a different species entirely.
I know they have tools and methods to minimize it, it's still just fascinating. Science is truly humankind's most remarkable accomplishment!
Remember: differences that combine to produce speciation (that is, reproductive isolation resulting from behavioral or genetic mate-restriction) all start out as mutation that propagate across generations and offer an evolutionary advantage. There's not so bright a line between the things you describe, and it takes experts to make good guesses as to which the fossil record represents.