The Greatest Show on Earth

  puppies, 35–6;

  running, 381;

  selective breeding, 37–40, 45, 52, 60, 66–7;

  sniffing, 233;

  thylacines and, 300;

  working, 38–9

  dolphins, 298–9, 340–3, 29

  domestication, 27–8, 53, 65, 71, 73

  dorados, 298–9, 340–1

  Douglas-Hamilton, Iain, 113

  dragonflies, giant, 164

  Dubois, Eugene, 184–5

  dugongs, 169, 172–3, 176, 180, 342, 11

  Earth: age of, 7, 106–7, 430;

  axis, 411, 412;

  opinion polls on existence of life on, 430;

  opinion polls on orbit, 434;

  orbit, 412–13;

  rotation, 410–12;

  satellite, 411–12

  earthquakes, 90

  Eddington, Arthur, 415

  electrons, 92–4

  elephants, 111–13, 326

  embryology: analogies for development, 221–2, 224–9;

  apoptosis, 221;

  biomorph, 40–1, 423;

  cell adhesion molecules, 234–5;

  cellular family tree, 243–7;

  changes in form during development, 207;

  chimpanzee, 207;

  computer model of a single cell, 229–32;

  constructive enzymes, 240–1;

  epigenesis, 213, 216;

  evolvability, 423–5;

  flocking behaviour analogy, 219–20, 242;

  gastrulation, 226–7, 228, 231;

  genes, 242–3, 248, 250, 310, 332–3;

  invagination, 227–9, 231, 232;

  koala, 370;

  nerve cells, 233–4;

  neurulation, 227–8, 231;

  numbers of digits, 167;

  origami analogy, 224–9, 235;

  preformationism, 213–16;

  segmentation, 358;

  self-assembly, 216–17, 220, 224, 235, 243;

  shell, 41;

  wings, 346

  Emory University, Atlanta, 434

  emus, 344–5

  Endler, John, 133–9

  enzymes, 235–43, 420–1, 12

  Eocene epoch, 98

  Eomaia, 153

  epigenesis, 213, 216

  Escherichia coli, 117, 127–8, 130

  essentialism, 21–7

  Eucalyptus, 267–8, 22

  eugenics, 38, 62n

  Eurobarometer, 432–5

  Eusthenopteron, 166, 168

  evening primrose, 51

  evolution: British attitudes to, 431–2, 436–7;

  Christian views of, 4–8, 434, 436;

  evidence for, 8–9, 99–100;

  of evolvability, 423–4;

  fact of, 17–18;

  Islamic views of, 4, 151, 154, 270, 432, 436–7;

  by non-random natural selection, 35, 426;

  opposition to, 4, 7, 402;

  rates of, 330–1;

  start of, 416–22;

  theory, 9–10;

  US attitudes to, 429–30, 432, 434–7

  evolutionary change: bacteria, 116–17, 119, 123–6, 130, 131–2;

  birds, 141;

  dogs, 37, 81–2;

  elephants, 111–13;

  and embryological change, 207;

  fossil record, 194, 196;

  guppies, 139;

  invisible, 16;

  living fossils, 141;

  lizards, 116;

  minimum amount of, 323;

  selection as cause of, 66;

  sexually reproducing populations, 126n;

  rate of, 331;

  stages of, 153;

  timing, 336

  exoskeletons, 305, 308, 315

  experiment, 66

  eye-witness evidence, 14–16

  eyes, 351–5, 354

  family tree: of all living creatures, 328–40;

  cellular, 243, 245, 247;

  evolutionary, 243, 324, 328;

  of genetic resemblance, 322, 324–5, 328;

  of resemblance, 296, 298, 315;

  of tortoises and turtles, 177

  feathers, 297–8

  Fermat, Pierre de, 12–13

  Fermi, Enrico, 421–2

  ‘First Family’, 188

  fish: blood vessels, 356–7;

  brains, 343;

  cleaners, 80–1;

  coelacanths, 163–4;

  definition, 162; DNA, 180;

  emergence on to land, 161–2, 165;

  evolution, 424;

  livebearers, 342;

  lobe-finned, 162–3, 165;

  ‘missing link’ with amphibians, 151, 164–9;

  swim bladder, 366–7;

  vagus nerve, 360, 361

  Fisher, Ronald, 31n

  ‘fission track dating’, 107

  fixation, 335–6

  flatworms, 148–9

  flies, 346, 349 – 50

  ‘flight distance’, 71–3

  flocking behaviour, 218–20, 229, 16

  Focke, W. O., 31n

  forest, 377–80;

  canopy, 378–9, 383, 31

  Forest of Friendship, 379–80, 387

  fossils: creationist view, 100–1, 145, 147–9, 283, 297;

  dating, 97–100, 101;

  formation, 97;

  ‘living fossils’, 139–41, 164;

  fossil record, 145–50, 194, 198–202, 283–4

  foxes, 28, 73–6, 75, 138–9

  frogs: ancestry, 152–3;

  embryo, 227;

  geographical distribution, 271;

  pollinators, 47;

  species, 424;

  spine, 298;

  tadpole experiment, 233–4

  fruit flies, 135, 303, 346

  Galapagos islands, 55–6, 258–65, 259, 20 –1;

  finches, 258, 264, 270;

  flightless cormorants, 170, 260, 345;

  giant tortoises, 260, 263–5, 21;

  hawks, 260;

  land iguanas, 261–2;

  marine iguanas, 170, 261–2, 20 –1

  mockingbirds, 262–3;

  name, 56;

  plants, 262

  Gallup polls, 429–30, 434

  gastrulation, 226–7, 228, 231

  Gauthier, Jacques, 178

  gazelles, 381, 383–6

  gecko, 7

  gene pool: ‘arms races’, 383, 386;

  concept, 28–9, 31–3;

  database of survival instructions, 405–6;

  divergences, 255–6;

  domestic dogs, 33–7;

  fixed genes, 335;

  genetic variants in, 126n;

  mutations, 237–8, 250, 335, 352;

  natural selection, 242, 248–50;

  speciation, 256–7;

  survival and reproduction, 63, 242, 248–50

  genes: borrowing, 301, 303;

  fixed, 335;

  gene transfer, 303–4;

  GM foods, 304;

  hox, 358;

  Mendel’s law, 29–31;

  mutant, 237–8, 244, 389;

  pseudogenes, 332–3, 336;

  shared genetic material, 317–22;

  survival of successful, 248–50;

  tree of genetic resemblances, 322–4;

  turned on, 241–3, 245–6

  Genius of Charles Darwin, The (Channel Four documentary), 198

  genome: bacteria, 117, 128;

  ‘borrowed’ genes, 303;

  C. elegans, 244;

  in cell nucleus, 242;

  chimpanzee genome project, 316;

  Human Genome Project, 246n, 316, 320;

  modification, 304;

  mutations, 334–5, 352, 368;

  new information entering, 131;

  Penny study, 325;

  sequencing, 326–8;

  sizes, 157–8, 327;

  species, 256

  gill arteries, 356–7, 359

  giraffes, 295 –6, 360–4, 370–1

  GM foods, 304

  gnus, 296, 380

/>   Goldbach Conjecture, 11–12

  Gondwana, 275, 276, 281–2, 345

  gorilla test, 14–15, 16, 8

  gorillas, 115, 159, 183, 317

  Gosse, Philip, 214

  Gould, Stephen Jay, 140, 150n, 395

  gravity, 411

  Great Barrier Reef, 266

  Great Chain of Being, 150, 155–9

  Griffith, Frederick, 301

  Guardian, 265n, 436

  guppies, 133–9, 6

  gypsy moths, 346

  hackles, 340

  Haeckel, Ernst, 308, 309

  haemoglobin: genes, 336;

  plant, 304n

  haemoglobin-A, 322–4

  hair standing on end, 339–40

  hairpin thought experiment, 24–6

  Haldane, J. B. S.: darwin unit, 330–1;

  on evolution, 147, 211–12, 217, 248–50;

  on origin of life, 418;

  population genetics, 31n

  halteres, 346 –7

  Hamilton, W. D., 190n

  Hardy, G. H., 31n

  Harries, Richard, 5–6

  Head, Jason, 175

  Heikea japonica, 56–9

  Heinlein, Robert, 70

  Helmholtz, Hermann von, 353–4, 355, 356, 371

  Heraclitus, 23

  heredity, 29—31

  hermit crabs, 307–8

  Herrel, Anthony, 113–14

  Hillis, David, 328–30;

  ‘Hillis plot’, 329

  hippos, 170

  history-deniers, 7–9, 85, 106–7, 150–1, 198, 202–3, 269, 427

  Hitler, Adolf, 62n

  Hodgkin, Jonathan, 303, 326–7

  ‘Hodgkin’s Law’, 316, 327

  Homo: ancestry, 192;

  classification, 193–4, 196, 202–3;

  erectus, 185–6,190, 196 –7, 199–201;

  ergaster, 195, 196–7;

  floresiensis, 188;

  georgicus, 186;

  habilis, 193–4, 195, 197, 199, 201, 203;

  heidelbergensis, 197;

  neanderthalensis, 190, 197;

  rhodesiensis, 197;

  rudolfensis, 193–4;

  sapiens, 186, 190, 195, 197, 199, 203, 205, 207;

  sapiens neanderthalensis, 190

  homology, 288, 290–1, 312–13

  Hooker, Joseph, 390, 404, 417

  Horizon (BBC TV series), 431

  horses: in America, 292n;

  diet, 70;

  galloping, 298–9;

  hooves, 291–2;

  legs, 385;

  skull, 294

  hox genes, 358

  Hoyle, Fred, 87n

  Hubble Space Telescope, 355, 356

  Human Genome Project, 246n, 316, 320

  humans: ancestry, 155, 203;

  bird-fanciers, 55–6;

  bodybuilders, 37–8,2;

  brain size, 185, 187, 197;

  brain surface, 343;

  cell generations, 245;

  and chimpanzees, 8, 26, 150–1, 155–6, 183, 187, 205–7, 317–21, 323–5;

  culture, 408;

  and dinosaurs, 7, 270, 434–5;

  dog-breeders, 34–7, 42, 45, 81;

  domestication of animals, 70–1, 73;

  embryos, 214, 221, 357, 359, 14 –15;

  eugenic breeding, 38–9, 62n;

  evolution, 183, 196, 203;

  eyes, 353–5;

  feet, 157, 167;

  gardeners, 45–7, 53, 61, 81;

  genome, 316, 333;

  Great Chain of Being, 155–9;

  hands, 305, 312;

  memory, 408;

  ‘missing link’, 150– 2, 184–5, 187, 197;

  and monkeys, 155;

  opinion poll answers on, 433;

  skeleton, 288, 290, 312;

  skull, 192, 205, 294, 310, 312;

  soul, 6;

  walking on two legs, 187, 197, 367–8

  hummingbirds, 48, 51–2, 5

  Huxley, Julian, 36, 57–9, 314, 404n

  hypothesis, 10–11, 66

  Ichthyostega, 166– 7

  iguanas: on Anguilla, 257–8, 261;

  on Galapagos islands, 261–2;

  marine, 170, 180, 261–2

  immune system, 316–17, 406–7

  impalas, 296

  inference, 15–16

  insects: clade selection, 424–5;

  mimicry, 59–60, 350, 7;

  parasites, 349–50;

  relationship with flowers, 46–54, 77–80, 4 –5;

  segmented body plan, 358;

  sympatric speciation, 257;

  wings, 313, 345–7, 349–50

  intermediates: ape–man, 184–5, 187, 194, 196–7, 199–200, 202–3, 207;

  chain of, 23–5;

  to chelonians, 174;

  creationist demand for, 145, 151, 159, 198–9, 202;

  fish-amphibians, 165, 169, 202;

  in fossil record, 145, 150–1, 196–7, 199, 201;

  koalas, 370;

  mammal ancestry, 298–9;

  sunflowers, 47;

  terrapins, 180;

  to whales, 169;

  wings, 346

  invagination, 227–9, 228, 231, 232

  Islamic views: of age of earth, 106;

  of creation, 154, 436–7;

  of evolution, 151

  island gigantism, 264

  isotopes, 93, 102–3, 107

  Jacob, François, 368

  Janet, Pierre, 65–6

  Jarvik, Erik, 166–7

  Java Man, 184–5, 186, 196

  jet engine, 365–6

  Johanson, Donald, 117, 188

  Jones, Steve, 436

  Joyce, Walter, 178

  Jurassic period, 98–9

  Kaehler, Ted, 41

  kakapos, 345, 28

  kangaroo, 22

  Kimeu, Kamoya, 197

  Kimura, Motoo, 332

  Kingdon, Jonathan, 367–8

  kiwis, 344

  KNM ER 1813 skull, 192 –3, 194

  KNM ER 1470 skull, 192 –3, 194, 196

  koalas, 369–70, 22

  Krebs, John, 240, 382

  Labradoodle, 34–5

  Lamarck’s theory, 17

  Lang, Herbert, 206

  laryngeal nerve, recurrent, 356–7, 360–4, 361, 363, 371

  Latimer, Margaret, 163

  Lawrence, D. H., 150

  Leakey, Mary, 189

  Leakey, Richard, 197

  Lee, Sheila, 206

  legs, 385–6

  lemurs: dancing sifaka, 23;

  flying, 290;

  population distribution, 269;

  ringtailed, 23;

  walking on two legs, 368

  Lenski, Richard, 117–31

  Limulus, 141

  Lingula, 140 –1, 331

  Lingulella, 140

  lions, 380–1, 384, 388–90, 30

  litopterns, 291–2

  lizards: backbone, 298;

  body temperature, 344;

  Croatian experiment, 113–16, 115;

  evolutionary divergence, 114, 116, 255;

  ‘flying’, 289– 90

  lobefins, 162–3, 165

  lobsters, 305, 307

  Lorenz, Konrad, 28

  Lucy, fossil skeleton, 117, 188–9, 198

  lungfish, 162, 164, 170

  Lyell, Charles, 183

  Lysenko, Trofim, 74

  Madagascar, 269, 281–2

  magnetic north, 280–1

  maize, 67, 134

  Malawi, Lake, 266, 267

  Malthus, Thomas, 17, 399n mammals: body temperature, 343–4;

  brains, 343;

  dolphins and whales, 342–4;

  placental, 268, 300–1, 302, 342–3;

  segmented body plan, 357–8

  manatees, 169–70, 172, 342, 11

  marsupials, 268–9, 300–1, 302, 22

  Martineau, Harriet, 17

  Matthew, Patrick, 31

  Mayr, Ernst, 21–3, 26

  Medawar, Pet
er, 150n, 158n

  Mendel, Gregor, 29, 31

  Michelangelo, 37

  Miller, Stanley, 418–19

  millipede, 299–300

  Miocene epoch, 98

  ‘missing links’, 150–2, 164–9, 173, 180n, 184–5, 187, 197

  Mitchell, Graham, 362

  mitochondria, 377

  moas, 344

  monkeys: and earthworms, 156–9;

  and humans, 155;

  platyrrhine, 269;

  spider, 290–1, 26;

  walking on two legs, 368

  Monod, Jacques, 236n

  Moore, Gordon, 325

  Moore’s Law, 325–7

  MORI poll, 431–2

  Morris, Desmond, 206

  Morton, Oliver, 48n

  moths, 50, 52, 4 – 5

  Mrs Ples, 191 –3

  MRSA, 132

  mutations: in bacteria, 117, 121, 124–30;

  in C. elegans, 244;

  change in protein shape, 237;

  computer simulation, 39–41;

  D’Arcy Thompson’s ‘transformations’, 310;

  definition, 35;

  deleterious, 352–3;

  dog breeding, 35;

  embryological processes, 424, 425n;

  evolution by natural selection, 130, 249–50;

  fixation and, 335–6;

  frequency, 335–6;

  in genetic code, 409;

  large and small, 352n, 355, 368;

  neutral, 332–5;

  rates, 117, 336

  Myers, PZ, 131

  natural selection: angler fish, 62, 63;

  Darwin on, 64;

  discovery of, 31;

  of DNA, 406;

  favouring competitive individuals, 390;

  genes, 242, 248– 50;

  hindsight, 371;

  hypothesis of, 17–18;

  non-random, 35, 130, 405, 426;

  pain and, 393–5, 400–1;

  start of, 419;

  survival and reproduction, 63–4, 405;

  ‘tinkering’, 368;

  tree height, 380;

  Wallace on, 64–5

  Nature, 172, 174

  Neanderthal man, 190

  Needham, Joseph, 229n

  nematode worms, 243–4, 253, 303

  Neo-Darwinian Synthesis, 29

  neoteny, 36, 207

  neurulation, 227 –8, 231–2

  neutrons, 92–5

  New Zealand, 160, 270, 271, 344–5

  Noah: Ark, 268, 269–70;

  flood, 100–1, 106, 283

  notochord, 227–8

  Nova (US TV series), 431n

  Odontochelys semitestacea, 174–9, 11

  okapis, 295 –6

  Oligocene epoch, 98

  omphalogy, 214

  Oparin, Alexander, 418

  orchids, 49–50, 52, 77–80, 4 – 5

  Ordovician period, 98–9, 100

  origami, 220, 224–9, 232

  Orrorin, 204

  Oster, George, 229–32

  ostriches, 272, 282, 344–5, 28

  Owen, Richard, 362

  oxygen, 164n, 418

  pain, 392–6

  Palaeochersis, 178–9

  Pan, 194

  Panderichthys, 167– 8

  Pangaea, 274

  Paranthropus boisei, 115n, 190

  parasites: arms race, 383, 426, 31;

  co-evolution, 80–1;