Fossils

The fossil evidence is all the evidence that we have with respect to what has happened in the past.  There is no point arguing back from events which take place now, even if we think that they show evolution, because the present gives no solid factual evidence of what actually occurred many years ago.  This is generally recognised within the scientific community, although the media may give another impression entirely.

"Naturalists must remember that the process of evolution is revealed only through the fossil forms.  A knowledge of palaeontology is, therefore, a prerequisite: only palaeontology can provide them with the evidence and reveal its course on mechanisms." (Grasse 1977)

Unfortunately even the fossils do not help us with respect to evolution.  This may be an astonishing claim to make, but it is the considered position of a number of eminent evolutionists.

Colin Patterson is the senior Palaeontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, a museum which houses some 60 million fossil specimens, the largest collection in the world.  In 1978 he wrote

"Fossils may tell us many things, but one thing they can never disclose is whether they were ancestors of anything else." (Patterson 1978)

References:
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Grasse, P., 'Evolution of Living Organisms', New York: Academic Press, (1977) 4
Patterson, C., 'Evolution', London: British Museum of Natural History, (1978) 133