How can scientists learn about an organism's ancestors other than fossils?

Answer 1

Fossils can be used as records because they contain the remains of creatures from long ago. Fossils show evolution (what prehistoric fish were like for example) and they can show what type of climate an area use to be (For example if you find a fish in your backyard then a long time ago that entire area was under water).

Answer 2

Apart from fossils the only thing we could do to learn about organisms ancestors is Biology.

Comparisons of modern organisms give us clues about what was alive in the past. Animals that share certain characteristics clearly have a common ancestor. It was known into antiquity that dogs and wolves share a common ancestor. They share many characteristics.

An even stronger tool available to us is DNA. DNA studies prove that chimpanzee are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. We must have had quite recently a common ancestor. DNA has even helped us work out our journey out of Africa to colonise the entire planet. There was a commonly believed theory in China that they did not leave Africa 75,000 years ago as modern man but evolved from Homo Erectus. Through DNA analysis this has been completely disproved. They are along with every other human on Earth descended from a group of Homo Sapiens that left Africa some 75,000 - 80,000 years ago.

Answer 3

They look at the physical features of the fossil and compare it to a modern day organism.

Answer 4

Aside from fossils we can learn about organisms and how they have changed over the years by looking at the plants and animals we have today.