Chapter 2 (Sarah)

To me, the most interesting part in the chapter was when Kolbert talked about how Cuvler believed in extinction, while Lamarck believed in evolution. As pointed out in the book, both their beliefs were kind of contradictory. In Cuvler's case, he only believed that animals could go extinct but could not evolve or change due to the fossils they left behind and their anatomy. Not believing in evolution seemed kind off weird since if animals couldn't change, how would new animals form? New species existence would have to come from somewhere and Culver, or anyone else i think, provided another reason besides evolution. Lamarck and the idea of evolution weren't really as focused on, but he seemed to only believe in evolution and that species can't go extinct. That brings up the question about what happened to species that have exist, that can be shown through fossils and bones, but can no longer be found. He did believe that humans could wipe out species which is happening now. While extinction can happen because of humans, the previous mass extinctions didn't involve humans as much as it does now.