I have always found humans and dolphins to be very similar. From the way they interact with each other to the way they express themselves (the extent of expression in dolphin is less noticeable of course). This extends to the way they become friendly, socialize, and care for their young.
The human and the dolphin, though very different species, hold a homogeneous trait. The human hand and the dolphin fin are similar in structure and function. It is not obvious from first sight, but once you hold the two bone structures side by side you can see the similarities. This homogeneous trait tells us that the two mammals come from the same ancestor some time ago.
It is said the land mammal and sea mammal split from a land mammal some 60 million years ago after the dinosaurs became excint. The mammal were able to split, grow, and become more diverse to live and survive in different parts of the land.
The following is an interesting clip on dolphins: https://youtu.be/Cqzd0aKTWlY
When we look at the butterfly and bat we see two very different creatures. The butterfly is known to have bright colors, while the bat is grey or brown and hides out in dark places. Visually the two are opposites, but we do notice one very obvious similarity.
Both the butterfly and the bat have wings which are used for the same purpose, but nothing else about them are the same. Functionally the wings the same, but structurally they are very different. Bat wings have bones under skin, while the butterfly wings are made of membranes and tiny scales.
Unable to find a common ancestor between the two we can say that the two are evidence of convergent evolution, in which the each developed similar cultural adaptations as a result of environmental conditions. The wings of the butterfly and the wings of the bat developed independently.
Very good description of your homologous species. With regard to the traits, remember that the guidelines asked for description of their structural functional differences. If these traits are homologous, their similarities are explained by common ancestry. How do they function differently and how is this reflected in their structure?
ReplyDeleteGood info on ancestry but you need to finish the story. Because we know that these two organisms are mammals, they share a common mammalian ancestor who possessed the ancestral limb structure.
Good images.
I agree that it is difficult to find the common ancestor.. you would have to go back 100's of millions of years to the earlier life forms, but we have other information to confirm analogous status so we don't have to take a leap of faith here. Bats are mammals and inherited their forelimb structure from an early non-winged mammal. Those wings are relatively recent adaptations, arising not only after the split with the common ancestor, but long, long after the split with the common ancestor with the butterfly. That evidence of independent evolution is all we need to confirm that these traits arose independently from each other, even if we aren't sure if the butterfly did inherit the trait from that common ancestor.
Good images.
I really enjoyed your post as well as your images! Dolphins are just so beautiful! You are right about dolphins, they are very similar to humans. They are extremely intelligent.I watched a documentary on octopuses and it is truly amazing at just how intelligent they were. The documentary left on the note that we shouldn't be in fear of intelligent species from outer space, but more from the depths of our oceans.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, in my research I was looking into dolphins and I found an article talking about dolphins having opposable thumbs. I was unable to read the whole article because I wasn't a paying, scientist, customer. However, if that were true, could you use that with the homology trait? I could be completely wrong, just trying to through something out there.
Good job!
I also used Dolphins in my post but I did not compare traits to the human. I was having a hard time finding a common ancestor of dolphins. I did like the post of bats and butterfly's I thought it was helpful to me getting a better understanding of what this assignment needed to entail. I liked all the Dolphins photos as well. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThat was indeed an interesting video on dolphins, especially the part with the pregnant woman. I like the images you used comparing the human hand and the dolphin fin because it really demonstrates how the structures are similar. I also used dolphins as one of my animals, for analogous structures though, and I read that dolphins evolved from land mammals and not the reverse so I find it interesting how different stories about evolution of species circulate through the internet. It also makes me think about how scientists can disprove one theory over the other, but I guess we are learning some of those ways now.
ReplyDeleteBefore your post, I never compared a bat and a butterfly and thought that they shared similar features, but seeing the images juxtaposed helps to demonstrate the similarities in the wings, even if they are structurally different. I think that you found a great example of analogous structures.