Your Inner Fish

Wherever Neil Shubin goes he is reminded of the "ghosts of animals past." Shubin, author of the bestselling book Your Inner Fish, is also a fish paleontologist and chairman of the University of Chicago's anatomy department. This three-episode PBS documentary series from producer and director David Dugan traces humankind's unlikely family tree, looking from primates all the way back to the early fishes that became transitional creatures, having left the sea to venture onto land. Fish were the first to have bony skeletons, evidence of which is fossilized in rocks from the Devonian period (some 360 million years ago) that are now found in ancient Arctic riverbeds, Greenland, and even in the lush green countryside of Pennsylvania. Shubin describes how primitive fins evolved into the "miracle" of animal and human hands, which would allow for tasks ranging from simple grasping to creatively advanced activities such as writing, painting, crafting, and tool-making. Animation is used here to suggest how these transitional creatures might have appeared and moved. Over millions of years, humans have shed certain characteristics, such as a yolk sac surrounding the fetus (which is necessary for egg layers like reptiles), while the human tailbone or coccyx is a likely remnant of our ancestors' tails. Sometimes change comes with a price, such as having only two sets of teeth over a lifetime, or the development of hernias and bad backs, or improved hearing at the expense of a reduced sense of smell. Other topics included here are the evolutionary role of hair, skin, color awareness, and most important, bi-pedalism—our ability to stand upright and walk on two feet. The series travels from the Namib Desert in South Africa to Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy, and on to Ethiopia, home of one of our most famous human ancestors: "Lucy," who lived some 3.2 million years ago. Along the way, comments from scientists, behavior experts, and fossil hunters help to shed light on new discoveries and controversies. Presenting lots of thought-provoking information with a dash of humor, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)