peppersalt
I am unaware of the Chinuch you refer to. I am aware of Derech Hashem where the Ramchal indicates quite clearly that if any given species will never go extinct as long as there is a purpose for it in the world.
The way I always understood it was that the Ramchal is basically stating that if a particular species purpose would no longer exist it would then cease to exist.
As for “Fossil Record”
I mean a clear discovery of linked species in successive strata that would show that evolution took place.
that is the only way to “prove” evolution.
The lack of such evidence is not just a “lack of proof, it is also quite troubling.
If the evolution of species took please according to the Evolutionary Theory then some archeological evidence of successive animals (or humans) should have been found somewhere amongst the various strata.
Why is it that after well over 100 years of worldwide searching the fossil record of a single species still has not been found?