Missing ‘theory of evolution’ specimens found in museum
THEY are the specimens that helped prove the theory of evolution, yet have remained lost for 150 years.
Now, Cambridge University has uncovered jars of platypuses and echidnas which were pivotal in proving the existence of egg-laying mammals, supporting Charles Darwin’s new hypothesis that one animal group was capable of changing into another.
Until Europeans first encountered the creatures in Australia in the 1790s, it had been assumed that all mammals give birth to live young, yet many scientists refused to believe the aberrations were real.
With a tail like a beaver, a flat bill, and webbed feet like a duck, when the first platypus specimens were brought to Europe people thought they were fakes that had been sewn together.
The finds were discovered in stores at Cambridge’s University Museum of Zoology, while assistant director Jack Ashby was researching a book about Australian mammals.
“In the 19th century, many conservative scientists didn’t want to believe that an egg-laying mammal could exist, because this would support the theory of evolution,” said Mr Ashby.
“Lizards and frogs lay eggs, so the idea of a mammal laying eggs was dismissed by many people. I think they felt it was degrading to be related to animals that they considered ‘lower life forms’.”
To resolve the matter, Cambridge scientist William Caldwell was dispatched to Australia in 1883 where he found evidence of the egg-laying mammals.
The news ended nearly 100 years of debate but the collection was never catalogued, so until recently museum staff had been unaware of its existence.
Mathew Lowe, the museum’s manager, eventually discovered a small box of specimens with a note suggesting they were Caldwell’s.
Mr Ashby said: “It’s one thing to read the 19th century announcements that platypuses and echidnas actually lay eggs. But to have the physical specimens here, tying us back to that discovery, is pretty amazing.”