From the outside, a whale's flippers appear to be flat, solid objects. However, when scientists observed the
bones within whale flippers they found bones like the
ones shown in the diagram.
Observing the bones made scientists ask more
questions about whale flippers. Scientists then used
the theory of evolution to understand how whales are
related to land mammals. They surmised that over
millions of years, the land mammals slowly adapted to
living near the sea and then living in the sea, where
solid flippers are more useful than fingers.
What part of the scientific cycle was used to
understand why whales have finger bones?
O experiments
observation
O explanation
O facts