Platypus eggs which proved Darwin’s evolution theory rediscovered 150 years after they were lost – The Telegraph

They are the specimens that helped prove the theory of evolution, yet they have remained lost for 150 years.

Now, Cambridge University has uncovered jars of platypuses and echidnas which were pivotal in proving that some mammals can lay eggs, supporting Charles Darwins controversial new hypothesis of natural selection and dealing a crushing blow to creationism.

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 Cambridges University Museum of Zoology, while assistant director Jack Ashby was researching a book about Australian mammals.

In the 19th-century, many conservative scientists didnt want to believe that an egg-laying mammal could exist, because this would support the theory of evolution the idea that one animal group was capable of changing into another, 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.

The rest is here:

Platypus eggs which proved Darwin's evolution theory rediscovered 150 years after they were lost - The Telegraph