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.
The first state flag was designated in 1893. (Laws of Minnesota 1893, Chapter 16) The design for the current Minnesota state flag was adopted in 1957 (Laws of Minnesota 1957, Chapter 155, Sections 1-4), based on a proposed design by a legislative interim commission created in 1955.