Question: What does it mean for an animal to be a living fossil? I heard they’re useful? What for?

Carrie Ijichi answered on 17 Mar 2017:

I think when people say that they mean they’re stayed the same for millions of years and so the living animals are almost the same as the fossilised versions. Horseshoe crabs are an example of that and they’re useful because you can’t tell much about how an animal behaved or their underlying biology just from a fossil. Imagine is the fossil came a live and you could observe it and learn about its biology! You can do that with those really rare “living fossils”

really interesting questions – thanks!