From: John Beckett 

"Gary Britt"  wrote in message
news::
> So evolution can not be directly observed ...

I did mention a couple of ways that you CAN observe evolution.

I was just commenting on the fact that it is a misunderstanding of what
actually happens to imagine that if you gathered enough fossils, or took
enough samples with a time machine, that you could OBSERVE evolution. The
drift from one species to another is so gradual that there would be no
point where you would say "Aha - That's where the change
occurred".

This point is relevant to the discussion here about what a species is. Many
scientists believe it is a waste of time worrying about exactly what a
species is, because given the right circumstances and a lot of time, one
species may become another species.

Or, as Bill was saying, there are a number of examples of "ring
evolution" where a species inhabits a large area, possibly forming a
ring. All around the ring, neighbours can and do interbreed. They are all
one species. However, individuals from the beginning and the end of the
ring are significantly different and will NOT interbreed. The evolution is
so gradual that you cannot see a difference between one local group and the
neighbouring groups. Yet, the differences add up to something significant.

One example:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html

John

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