What is a living fossil? What is a living fossil

Living fossils are animals and plants that are alive but have survived since ancient times.

It is a creature that has been inherited from ancient times, such as the Chinese alligator.

Fossils are fossilized creatures that were fossilized 10,000 years ago, and certainly not alive. Since the term itself is contradictory, it is not a scientific term. It's just a colloquial adjective used by Darwin for Ginkgo biloba, found in East Asia, which is thought to have been extinct during the Mesozoic Era, more than 100 million years ago.

For a while, many people, including some paleontologists, equated "living fossils" with relics. Since relics are a term with a less qualifying meaning, the term "living fossil" is confused. Nowadays, many people believe that there should be at least the following four qualifications in order for a living species to be called a living fossil

Be anatomically very similar to an ancient species, but not necessarily identical or that species; This ancient species is at least 100 million or tens of millions of years old, and has retained many original features throughout its geological history without major changes, that is, it is a slow-evolving organism. The living members of this group are represented by one or a few species; They have an extremely limited range.

Those that meet the definition criteria of "living fossils" include ginkgo, metasequoia, silver fir, giant panda, Chinese sturgeon, etc.

1. Ginkgo: Ginkgo biloba, also known as ginkgo tree and Gongsun tree, was once one of the rare tree species that only survived in China, and was known as a "living fossil".

2. Metasequoia: Metasequoia genus has about 6 7 species in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of the Mesozoic Era, which was thought to have been extinct in the past, and in 1941, Chinese botanists first discovered this famous ancient and rare relict tree species in Lichuan Moudao Town, Hubei Province (then Modaoxi, Wanxian County, Sichuan).

3. Silver fir : In the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic Era, silver fir was widely distributed in the Eurasian continent of the northern hemisphere, and its fossils have been found in Germany, Poland, France and the former Soviet Union.

4. Giant panda:

The history of the giant panda As a unique national treasure in China, the giant panda has survived on the earth for more than 8 million years, and it survived on the earth much earlier than humans.

5. Chinese sturgeon:

The Chinese sturgeon has a long life cycle, with a maximum lifespan of 40 years. It is a first-class key protected wild animal in China, and it is also a living fossil, known as the "giant panda in the water".

Living fossils refer to species that appeared in ancient times and survived until modern times and still retain some of their original characteristics and are not extinct. Living fossils can be divided into plant living fossils and animal living fossils.

Famous representatives of living fossils of plants: (list 5).

Cycads. Cycads first appeared in the Miocene (about 10 million years ago) and are embryonic plants. So far, it has been widely distributed in China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and other places.

Cycads are versatile, both as ornamental plants and as medicinals; It can be wild or artificially grown.

Ginkgo. Ginkgo biloba first appeared in the early Cretaceous period (about 100 million years ago) and once existed in the same era as the dinosaurs. Nowadays, the number of ginkgo biloba preserved is very small, so ginkgo biloba is also called a "relict plant".

Dove tree. It is a relict plant left over from the Miocene (about 10 million years ago), which is a unique species in China and is currently listed as a national first-class protected plant.

Metasequoia. Metasequoia first appeared in the Cretaceous period, and scientists once found only fossils of metasequoia, and at one time thought it was extinct. However, it was later discovered that in China, the primary forest of metasequoia is still preserved, and it is now an endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria first appeared in the Proterozoic (about 2.5 billion years ago) and are one of the world's earliest and longest-surviving organisms, and are still not extinct. Distributed all over the world, cyanobacteria are extremely adaptable, can survive in alpine deserts and tropical deserts, and can be seen in hot spring vents with temperatures of up to 90 degrees Celsius.

Famous representatives of living fossils of animals: (list 5).

Chinese sturgeon. The Chinese sturgeon first appeared in the Triassic period (about 230 million years ago), and is an ancient fish between cartilaginous and hard bones. The Chinese sturgeon is currently listed as a national first-class protected animal.

Panda. The panda first appeared in the late Miocene (about 8 million years ago), and was first discovered in China, an endemic species of China, and is now one of China's national images.

Alligator. The Chinese alligator first appeared in the Paleozoic Era (about 100 million years ago), the same era as the dinosaurs. The Chinese alligator still retains primitive reptiles and dinosaur-like structures, which are living fossils.

The Chinese alligator is a national first-class protected animal and a critically endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Cockroach. The scientific name of cockroach "cockroach" first appeared in the Silurian period (about 100 million years ago), its history predates the dinosaurs, and it existed in the same era as the dinosaurs. Cockroaches not only successfully escaped the Cretaceous mass extinction, but also survived to this day, with footprints all over the world, and are well-deserved "Xiaoqiang".

Horseshoe crab. The horseshoe crab first appeared in the Devonian period (about 400 million years ago) and still retains its original and ancient physiognomy, and is closely related to trilobites. The blood of horseshoe crab can be ** traumatic bleeding and gastric bleeding, and has high scientific and medicinal value.

Summary. Hello dear, "living fossils" refer to those organisms that have been preserved on the earth for a long time and have an extremely ancient living history, which may have been relatively rare in modern nature, but were once widespread in some geological periods in the past, and now have undergone a long evolutionary process without essential changes.

Hello, "living fossils" refer to those organisms that have been preserved on the earth for a long time and have an extremely ancient survival history, which may have been relatively rare in modern nature, but they have been widely existed in some geological periods.

Hello dear, fossils of organisms are evidence that they once existed, while "living fossils" refer to certain organisms with a history of ancient times, which are similar to ancient times in terms of morphology, structure and ecology, and have a high degree of evolutionary conservatism. These slag creatures include but are not limited to dinosaurs, sharks, snakeroots, ginkgo trees, vertebrates echinoderms, etc., which have existed on the earth for a long time and have undergone changes in many geological periods, but have not undergone essential evolutionary changes.

Hello dear, "living fossil" is not only a biological term, but also often used to describe things in other fields, such as technology, culture, thought, etc. For example, some of the ancient buildings, handicrafts, literature, etc. are also called "cultural living fossils".