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THE STRUGGLE to teach science wins a few rounds, sometimes it loses for a while – and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, at least in South Carolina. As we went to press the state's new draft science-teaching standards provided for evolution, but approval of that section was being delayed by those who want to omit the crucial matter of natural selection.
Now the state Senate has declared the Columbian mammoth the official state fossil – an idea, proposed by 8-year-old Olivia McConnell, that adds to the designation of the spotted salamander as the state amphibian.
Palaeontologists may, however, have a few bones to pick with the legislators' definition: "The Columbian Mammoth... is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina and must be officially referred to as ...
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