Just a brief point before I go to bed. Would you consider a giraffe with a shorter neck, neanderthal man, prehistoric horse etc as aesthetically pleasing as the current variation?
One problem I have with intermediates is that they are rarely/never aesthetically pleasing thats partly what I mean by half formed.
What does aesthetically pleasing have to do with anything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder man. I can think of plenty of current "fully formed" (as if there were another option) species that are definitely NOT aesthetically pleasing.....here's a few off the top of my head I find downright ugly....aye-aye of madagascar, a deep sea angler, a camel spider, leaches, a star nosed mole, & this dog.....http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/img/2009_09_09/uglyDog.jpg I see no difference aesthetically between a short necked giraffe or ancient horse to their modern counterparts.
Lets consider which modern species today had more aesthetically pleasing ancestors. The aye-aye for example has a common ancestor with all other lemurs of madagascar. Lemurs exist only in madagascar but their are dozens of different species which are all furry cute aesthetically pleasing critters......except the aye-aye, they are hideous. This is just my opinion, maybe others find them cuddly. According to wikipedia though, even the locals of madagascar see them as a sign of evil & death. But thats the point aesthetics are a matter of opinion & have nothing to do with it.....its form & function....if this means aesthetically pleasing.....then all species are & have been such. No species has had "half-formed" stages.....it just doesnt work that way.
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