kollegal ground gecko
unlike rats and cockroaches, which are generalists and much the same wherever one find them, lizards are specialists and their evolution unique in the natural world.
lizards are reptiles of the same order, which they share with the snakes. the species range in adult length from a few centimeters (some geckos) to nearly three meters (komodo dragons). geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations, making chirping sounds in social interactions. the picture we see is a kollegal ground gecko (geckoella collegalensis) found in the scrub plains of southern peninsular india .
lizards have been on the earth for more than 200 million years, and they make excellent models to study for evolution. during the course of evolution, lizards have undergone limb reduction and loss many times. its easy to think that evolution leads to ever-greater degrees of complexity, but limb reduction shows how animal structure can become less complex even though it becomes more specialised. (-incomplete)
posted by wildpic at 10:12 PM
17 Comments:
I so admire how your mind works, as you pick out each tiny image you see, identify it and how it works, then are able to put all your images together to explain what they mean. Insight, knowledge, and the ability to pass it on so we can learn. Thanks!
and isn't it also true that the human head is smaller than it used to be ...or have I got that wrong?
Terrific picture and good information suresh.
In my opinion evolution is unpredictable, you cannot predict which way it will go. sometimes perhaps it stops at one point.
Good Example is a volkswagon. There are hundreds of internal changes and modifications over past 70 years, the exterior almost remain the same. Almost.
a Porche is a joy to see, perhaps enlightening to drive. A frog could have inspired ferdinand porche to design. It was a sad day for me when concords were grounded.
Its such a joy to watch a concord and a pelican landing.
Movements of a snake could have given the idea of designing a train running on tracks. B52 stealth bomber ?? which escapes radar detection ?? is another inspiration of nature. ooooof!
all a designer has to do is take a walk in the woods, he'd come back with ideas.
Wow !
For creature even more primitive than reptilians, identical environments produce convergent evolution. This has happened not just a lucky few times but probably hundreds...in the case of these cave fish, 80+ instances of convergent evolution.
Nice blog, btw, demands thought in a non-stressful way. Confirms the expression an old friend taught me: "The universe is an educational toy."
Love the head and eyes being in focus only. Don't buy the evolution thing though...
As usual, your photos are wonderful!!
hello darlene, thanks for dropping by and for the comment. studying and spending time with nature loosens up our known rigid thinking and reveals the simple, yet the sophistication it can bring with time.
am glad you like the post. cheers !
rob, this is how it is ...
Australopithecus afarensis lived between 3.9 and 3.0 million years ago. It had a brain capacity of about 450 cc.
Australopithecus robustus lived between two and 1.5 million years ago. Brain size was up to 525cc.
Homo erectus lived between 1.8 million and 300,000 years ago. a 900cc brain size.
Homo sapiens neandertalensis lived in Europe and the Mideast between 150,000 and 35,000 years ago. had a brain size of about 1450cc. DNA studies have indicated that the neandertal was an entirely different species and did not merge into the H. sapiens sapiens gene pool. latter went extinct.
Homo sapiens sapiens (our immediate ancestors)first appeared about 120,000 years ago. Modern humans have an average brain size of about 1350 cc.
sorry, that post for rob is mine. clicked wrong.
thanks rauf, am glad u like it.
yes, evolution exhibits both predictive and unpredictive patterns.
unified, hardheaded, singular approach would have wiped all evolution at the very beginning.
car evolution is an intersting study of human liking and environmental limitations. concord is a wonderfull example of exinction.
nature is a great provider of inspiration, i guess we humans draw a lot of parallel from it.
like greensmile mentioned "The universe is an educational toy."
jorge ... 'yeah'...
greensmile, thanks for dropping by. read your post on cave species evolution, very interesting one.
convergent evolution is pretty much the norm in darwins theory and cave environment stipulates quiet a similarity in conditions which is a wonderful habitat to study convergence.
even minor unseen variations makes species take a different adaptation route.
you wonderfull mentioned,
"The universe is an educational toy."
indeed, indeed, thanks very much for that and the comment. cheers !
hello jill, thanks ... am glad u like the pic.
na, no need to buy anything thats not you. when no one knows what 'reality' 'is' then what do we take seriously ? suit your convenience. cheers !
Thanks for the information about brain sizes.
By the way, Suresh, should one make any connection between the hands in your profile/icon image and the hands in this famous image?
you welcome rob !
greensmile, thanks for the picture. why not make it one of the connections ? between the "famous picture" ... 'finger of the paternal right hand' (digitus paternae dexterae) to give the faithful speech, love and strength.
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