Evolution theory

By Chiara Alvaro, Sophie Lenders, Lotte Segers

the evolution

The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Darwin's

book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, is the process by which
organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical
or behavioral characteristics. Changes that allow an organism to better
adapt to its environment will help it survive and have more offspring.
Evolution by natural selection is one of the best substantiated theories in
the history of science, supported by evidence from a wide variety of
scientific disciplines. Despite that, many people, especially in North
America, still refuse to accept the theory of evolution.
The evolution of the elephant

Thanks to a hundred years of Hollywood movies, many people are

convinced that mammoths, mastodons and other prehistoric elephants
lived alongside dinosaurs. In fact, these huge, lumbering beasts evolved
from the tiny, mouse-sized mammals that survived the extinction of the
dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and the first mammal even remotely
recognizable as a primitive elephant didn't appear until five million years
after the dinosaurs became extinct.
Elephants
Moeritherium:

Moeritherium seems to
have been some kind of
hippo in form and would
have appeared quite
different to how we know
elephants today.

Paleomastoden:

Palaeomastodon fossils have

been found in Africa, lived
some 36-35 million years ago.
Palaeomastodon had tusks,
both upper and lower, and it
had a trunk. It was about 2.2
meters tall at the shoulder and
weighed about 2500
kilograms.The lower tusks were
flat rather than pointed cones, and were probably used to scoop plants
from swampy water.

Gomphotherium:

The Gomphotherium is quite a

bizarre prehistoric elephant that is
quite different from the ones that
we know today.

Platybelodon:
As you may have guessed from its name, Platybelodon (Greek for "flat
tusk") was a close relative of Amebelodon ("shovel-tusk"): both of these
prehistoric elephants presumably used their flattened lower tusks to dig
up the moist vegetation along the flooded plains, lakebeds and
riverbanks of late Miocene Africa and Eurasia, about 10 million years
ago. The main difference between the two was that Platybelodon's tusks
was much more advanced than Amebelodon's, with a broad surface that
bore a hole measuring about two or three feet long and a foot wide, it
certainly gave this prehistoric proboscid a pronounced underbite.

Steppe mammoth

The steppe mammoth is generally

regarded as the largest species of
mammoth. Steppe mammoths are
known to have ranged across most
of Eurasia.

African elephant
African elephants are the largest
land animals on Earth. They are
slightly larger than their Asian
cousins and can be identified by their larger
ears that look somewhat like the continent
of Africa. Elephant ears radiate heat to help
keep these large animals cool, but
sometimes the African heat is too much.
Elephants are fond of water and enjoy
showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over
themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective
coating of dust.
sources
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/a/elephants.htm

http://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/more-mortal/201104/why-do-
people-still-reject-the-theory-evolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeomastodon#cite_note-
probos_mass-2

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/m/moeritherium.html

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/m/mammuthus-
trogontherii-steppe-mammoth.html

http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/platybelodon.htm

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/a/african-
elephant/