Tiktaalik is a transitional fossil; it is to tetrapods what Archaeopteryx is to birds, troodonts and dromaeosaurids. 1  While it may be that neither is ancestor to any living animal, they serve as evidence that intermediates between very different types of vertebrates did once exist.
Minnesota became a part of the United States as the Minnesota Territory in 1849, and became the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858.
1 The initial thought was to enlarge Como Zoo in Saint Paul, but a 1966 study indicated there was not enough room to expand it into a major facility. 2  Legislation passed in 1969 creating the Minnesota Zoological Board. 3  Dakota County donated a 500-acre parcel of land in Apple Valley to the State of Minnesota in 1970.