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Good point. I didn't think about that aspect. I'm only an amateur biologist, so didn't consider the wording. Ironically, I would consider a beak more primitive
by yareally 10y ago
Good point. I didn't think about that aspect. I'm only an amateur biologist, so didn't consider the wording.
Ironically, I would consider a beak more primitive until the engineer in me screams teeth could be a sign of over engineering--not that I would personally give up my good (but high maintenance) teeth for a beak. Could probably write a entire book on "evolutionarily traits and trends for engineers."
- jonchang 10y agoAbsolutely-it's important to consider the selective environment that a trait evolved in and evaluate all possible tradeoffs. You can see this in certain fishes where pharyngeal jaws permit eating hard prey (new food source!) but also increase the processing time for soft prey (bad if you're competing against critters that eat faster). Beaks are good for some reasons and teeth for others.
- avip 10y agoYou may enjoy "principles of animal locomotion" - it's pretty engineering focused.