MCAS Evolution Questions
Directions – print the last page with your answers.
1. In 2006, scientists discovered fossilized skeletons of an animal with several interesting features. Fossil evidence indicated that the animal not only had scales, fins, and gills, but also had lungs, a full set of ribs, and limb bones arranged to support the animal’s weight. The illustration below shows what the animal, called Tiktaalik, probably looked like based on the fossil evidence.
Which of the following statements best explains why the Tiktaalik fossils are an important piece of evidence for evolution?
A. / They include skeletons of both males and females.B. / They are complete skeletons of a carnivorous animal.
C. / They allow scientists to estimate the animal’s lifespan.
D. / They show a transitional form between fish and land-dwelling vertebrates.
2. The fossil record supports which of the following descriptions of the evolution of life on Earth?
A. / Life first appeared with the diversity found today.B. / The importance of natural selection diminished over time.
C. / Complex organisms evolved from more simple organisms.
D. / Large organisms appeared before single-celled organisms.
3. Madagascar has a unique animal community. Lemurs are one of the animal groups that have diversified extensively on Madagascar. Lemurs are primates, which is an order of mammals that also includes monkeys
and apes. Lemur species vary widely in habitat, diet, size, and color. Lemurs only live on the island of Madagascar. However, fossil evidence shows that lemur ancestors existed on Africa’s mainland. Scientists hypothesize that lemur ancestors reached Madagascar by floating across the Mozambique Channel on matted clumps of vegetation.
Lemur body types can vary widely. In addition to fossils and comparative anatomy, which of the following types of evidence can scientists reliably use to study the evolution of the variety of lemur body types?
A. / lifespanB. / population sizes
C. / DNA sequences
D. / male-to-female ratio
4. Which of the following best explains how the fossil record provides evidence that evolution has occurred?
A. / It indicates that forms of life existedon Earth at least 3.5 billion
years ago.
B. / It indicates the exact cause
of structural and behavioral adaptations
of organisms.
C. / It shows how the embryos of many
different vertebrate species are
very similar.
D. / It shows that the form and structure
of groups of organisms have changed
over time.
5. The drawings below show some trilobite and crinoid fossils.
Which of the following is the most reasonable conclusion when fossils of
these two different types of organisms are found in the same layers of rock?
B. / Crinoids were ancestors of trilobites.
C. / Crinoids and trilobites had
similar behaviors.
D. / Crinoids and trilobites lived at
the same time.
Answers for questions on evolution – fossils
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