Hopeful Monster
The Hopeful Monster theory was proposed by Richard B. Goldschmidt to explain the gaps in the fossil record. He proposed that the evolutionary mechanism that explains the fossil record might be embryological monsters, such as the occasional birth of a two-legged sheep or a two-headed turtle. This would explain the apparent saltations or "leaps" in the fossil record. Stephen J. Gould made reference to the Hopeful Monster theory in proposing his alternative theory of punctuated equilibrium. In an article in Natural History, Gould noted: "the extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record
persists as the trade secret of paleontology. We fancy ourselves as the
only true students of life's history, yet to preserve our favorite
account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad
that we never see the very process we profess to study." Natural History, May 1977 p.14. He penned another article for the June/July, 1977 issue of Natural History, titled The Return of Hopeful Monsters.
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