Rocks that formed 375 million years ago are exposed at the surface on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Photo courtesy of the Shubin Lab

The emergence of life on land was one of the most important moments in the grand saga of life’s evolutionary history. Many of the characteristics of our bodies– like our arms, legs, hips, hands, fingers, and necks– can be traced back to adaptations that occurred during the transition from fish to amphibians. But how do we know that? What evidence exists from this time that can help us piece together the sequence of events that led our ancestors out of the water and onto land? 

Neil Shubin with the fossil of Tiktaalik roseae at the site where it was discovered in the Canadian Arctic. Photo courtesy of the Shubin Lab

Neil Shubin is a paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and an award winning science communicator. He’s the Robert R Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. He’s also the author of several books, including Your Inner Fish, The Universe Within, Some Assembly Required, and a new book entitled Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, The Cosmos, and Our Future.  His team has discovered several important fossils in the Canadian Arctic that have helped biologists better understand how fish evolved into land animals. 

Neil Shubin and his team at a field camp in the Canadian Arctic. Photo courtesy of the Shubin Lab

Qikiqtania (center, in light green), a fossil fish from the Canadian Arctic that returned to the water after its ancestors had adapted to life on land, along with its more terrestrial cousin, Tiktaalik. Photo courtesy of the Shubin Lab

Field camp in the Canadian Arctic. Photo courtesy of the Shubin Lab