Finding Tiktaalik, the Fossil Link Between Fish and Land Animals

Ever since he was a graduate student, Neil Shubin (U. Chicago) has been obsessed with finding fossils of the creature that marked the transition from fish to land dwelling animals. He explains how he scoured maps to find rocks of the right age and type that were accessible at the earth’s surface. This led him to the Canadian arctic where, in 2004, Shubin and his colleagues found Tiktaalik, a fossil of a creature with features found in both fish and tetrapods. Tiktaalik was the link between fish and land animals.