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Fig. 3 | Evolution: Education and Outreach

Fig. 3

From: Mammalian organogenesis in deep time: tools for teaching and outreach

Fig. 3

Phylogenetic framework of the species for which developmental series are provided in the Additional file 1. Many natural history museums still depict evolutionary patterns as ‘orthogenetic’, and thus as a linear and directed sequence from ancestor to descendant, including even the classic example of horses [discussed by MacFadden et al. (2012)]. This kind of representation is wrong, as the pattern is actually a branching one. This mistake communicates antiquated knowledge and perpetuates misconceptions about evolution. People tend to see evolution as a story with a beginning, middle, and an end [discussed by Baum and Smith (2012)]. Phylogenetic trees challenge this view, showing a branching and fractal pattern instead of linearity, and with one beginning and many ends

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