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Louis Dollo

Belgian paleontologist

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Louis Dollo was a Belgian paleontologist who formulated Dollo's law, a biological principle stating that evolution is not reversible. This means that structures or functions lost during evolution do not reappear in the same lineage of organisms.12

While initially widely accepted, Dollo's law has been challenged by evidence of reversible evolution. A notable example is the peppered moth, where a dark morph emerged due to pollution and later declined as pollution decreased, allowing the light morph to re-emerge.1

Dollo also supervised the excavation of numerous Iguanodon skeletons in Bernissart, Belgium, contributing significantly to the understanding of dinosaur anatomy and behavior, suggesting some dinosaurs may have traveled in groups.3

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