Quote Originally Posted by Riot Maker View Post
why would Haeckel fake embryo drawings
Haeckel didn't fake them. The issue was that he supposedly exaggerated traits to increase similarities. Further research and modern technology shows that he was almost entirely correct. Humans DO have pharyngial gill slits in the womb. Haeckel's conjecture as to why they were there may have been wrong, but undeniably they DO exist. Further, human, fish, chicken and many, many other species' embryos are remarkably similar in early stages of development, not diverging until several stages into development.

Also, the most popular image attributed to Haeckel was actually drawn by Romanes. Haeckel had several hundred embryo drawings, and of them, only eight could be considered "fake". Haeckel explained these images: "[For embryos] in which the disclosed material for inspection is so incomplete or insufficient that one is compelled in a restoration of a connected development series to fill up the gaps through hypotheses, and to reconstruct the missing members through comparative syntheses. What difficulties this task encounters, and how easily the draughts- man may blunder in it, the embryologist alone can judge."