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What are two reasons that the fossil record is not complete?

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In order for it to be complete one would need every individual in the chain to have been preserved. True? Complete is no gaps. And from one chicken to one egg, the changes are usually going to be minor, imperceptible. read more

Many organisms in the fossil record are so far only known through one single example. Finally, the fossil record is heavily slanted towards creatures which have hard, solid body parts, such as vertebrates. That being the case, the really impressive thing about the fossil record is how much we have, and how many transitional forms are known. read more

The two reasons I know of are: That natural geological processes “systematically” destroy untold numbers of fossils. And conditions necessary to preserve any parts of a dead creature often simply do not exist in some areas for long periods of time (tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of years). read more

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