Tiktaalik

     Today we discussed Chapters 1 and 2 in "Your Inner Fish." The book was written by Neil Shubin, who discovered Tiktaalik. Tiktaalik is the animal that transitioned from water to land. He made this transition because there was more food and less predators on land. However, he could only come onto land for brief periods of time because he still used gills to breathe. Tiktaalik had the beginning of many animals modern day bone structure in his arm and hand. He also had a very different neck from fish, and had wider ribs. All of these allowed him to become more successful on land and many things Tiktaalik acquired, we still have today, such as wider ribs, a neck, and arm bone structure. 

A model of Tiktaalik in our museum