Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Feet have evolved many forms depending on the animal's needs. One key variation is where on the foot the animal's weight is placed. Some vertebrates: amphibians, reptiles, and some mammals such as humans, bears, and rodents, are plantigrade. This means the weight of the body is placed on the heel of the foot, giving it strength and stability.
Some crab-shaped species have evolved away from the crab form in a process called decarcinisation. Decarcinisation, or the loss of the crab-like body, has occurred multiple times in both Brachyura and Anomura. [25] [26] However, there are varying degrees of carcinisation and decarcinisation. Thus, not all species can necessarily be distinctly ...
Leaves have evolved multiple times - see Evolutionary history of plants. They have evolved not only in land plants, but also in various algae, like kelp. [214] Prickles, thorns and spines are all modified plant tissues that have evolved to prevent or limit herbivory, these structures have evolved independently a number of times. [215]
A wheeled buffalo figurine—probably a children's toy—from Magna Graecia in archaic Greece [1]. Several organisms are capable of rolling locomotion. However, true wheels and propellers—despite their utility in human vehicles—do not play a significant role in the movement of living things (with the exception of the corkscrew-like flagella of many prokaryotes).
Paleontologists have documented numerous transitional forms and have constructed "an astonishingly comprehensive record of the key transitions in animal evolution". [126] Conducting a survey of the paleontological literature, one would find that there is "abundant evidence for how all the major groups of animals are related, much of it in the ...
Gliding, in particular, has evolved among rainforest animals, especially in the rainforests in Asia (most especially Borneo) where the trees are tall and widely spaced. Several species of aquatic animals, and a few amphibians and reptiles have also evolved this gliding flight ability, typically as a means of evading predators.
Devolution, de-evolution, or backward evolution (not to be confused with dysgenics) is the notion that species can revert to supposedly more primitive forms over time. The concept relates to the idea that evolution has a divine purpose and is thus progressive (orthogenesis), for example that feet might be better than hooves, or lungs than gills.
The vertebrate land invasion refers to the transition of vertebrate animals from being aquatic/semiaquatic to predominantly terrestrial during the Late Devonian period. This transition allowed some vertebrates to escape competitive pressure from other aquatic animals and explore niches on land, [1] which eventually established the vertebrates as the dominant terrestrial phylum.