Shouldn’t there be millions of mutated fossils turning a dog into a horse?
Some people just don’t have enough faith to believe in evolution."
Of course, no evolution theory says dogs turned into horses, and I'm certain you know that, but possibly enjoy a little hyperbole?
In fact, much of this type argument is just a word definition game -- what exactly is a "transitional form"?
Well, first of all, isn't every individual "transitional" between our ancestors and our progeny?
And if small biological changes help us to adapt better, aren't we more likely to survive and reproduce?
And doesn't DNA analysis allow us to track these generation-by-generation changes back into the depths of time?
Second, consider the total number of known species -- 1.5 million named, with another 5 million estimated as yet to be cataloged.
Of those, over 5,000 are mammals.
But how many mammal fossils do we have from, say, 5 million years ago?
A few dozen, a couple of hundred?
One estimate is that we have fossils of fewer than 1% of all species which ever lived.
Simply put: for every "transitional form" fossil we do have, 99 others are missing.
Third, we actually do have many transitional fossils, and none more complete than those of pre-human creatures, of which I've posted this photo now several times:
•(A) Pan troglodytes, chimpanzee, modern
•(B) Australopithecus africanus, STS 5, 2.6 My
•(C) Australopithecus africanus, STS 71, 2.5 My
•(D) Homo habilis, KNM-ER 1813, 1.9 My
•(E) Homo habilis, OH24, 1.8 My
•(F) Homo rudolfensis, KNM-ER 1470, 1.8 My
•(G) Homo erectus, Dmanisi cranium D2700, 1.75 My
•(H) Homo ergaster (early H. erectus), KNM-ER 3733, 1.75 My
•(I) Homo heidelbergensis, "Rhodesia man," 300,000 - 125,000 y
•(J) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Ferrassie 1, 70,000 y
•(K) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, La Chappelle-aux-Saints, 60,000 y
•(L) Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, Le Moustier, 45,000 y
•(M) Homo sapiens sapiens, Cro-Magnon I, 30,000 y
•(N) Homo sapiens sapiens, modern