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Even more wild to me is that saber-toothed cat-like predators evolved seven separate times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_predator https://en.wiki
by samatman 4y ago
Even more wild to me is that saber-toothed cat-like predators evolved seven separate times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_predator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_predator
- gibolt 4y agoThe teeth are already there. A few gradually longer ones makes obvious sense to be a better predator, giving them an evolutionary advantage.
- throwaway742 4y agoThen why aren't they still around? Why don't they evolve again?
- Scarblac 4y agoSaber tooth tigers and humans coexisted for a while, and the tigers were probably very dangerous to us. That and having to adapt to the end of the ice age, I don't think we know what was the bigger factor.
- fbarred 4y agoThe large teeth may have been useful to hit vital organs on large prey that used to be common but now extinct. No large prey - no sabre teeth needed.
- bmitc 4y agoProbably climate change and humans.
- Zuider 4y agoThey may wekk evolve again, given the right circumstances. Giganticism in both predator and prey is a response to plentiful food. It happened with both dinosaurs and mammals. By the same token, animals respond by evolving into smaller forms in food sparse environments. On the Indonesian island of Flores, both hominids and elephants became tiny.
- version_five 4y agoThere was a recent article on here about how species that looked alike were not necessarily related and is was more common to have physically dissimilar but geographically close species that were evolutionary relatives. One of the points was that convergent evolution was more common than people thought. These stories appear to support the convergent evolution assertion
- frogulis 4y agoThis one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29621646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29621646
- mirekrusin 4y agoI wasn't aware of that some time ago, it's a fascinating insight. I got a lightbulb (going wtf/dark actually!) when watching cartoon or something with triceratops. They looked so much like rhinos. But had eggs. I had trouble reconciling it with evolution. They were so far ancestor-wise but so close physically-looking wise. Convergent evolution is very interesting. It suggests aliens may not be that different from us after all, if exist.
- ativzzz 4y ago> It suggests aliens may not be that different from us after all, if exist. Alternatively, they are the more evolutionally convergent species and we will evolve towards something inhuman
- zdragnar 4y agoAll of this has happened before before.
- namaria 4y agoI often wonder if we see time as linear just because we're falling through it in a forced direction. Maybe there is no before or after. Just everything possible existing all at the same time. Like, would a conscious falling star think there is only one direction in space?
- at_a_remove 4y ago"Dirk cats" were featured in the sci-fi series starting with Souls in the Great Machine, another convergence to a saber-toothed feline.
- bombcar 4y agoSomeone keeps submitting the “saber tooth” product and it keeps getting rejected - no market fit?
- grp000 4y agoBut the idea is just too cool to die.
- darkerside 4y agoThe Evolution app store
- andrewflnr 4y agoThis is especially weird for me since I still don't understand what advantage they provide. It doesn't look like you can really use them for biting, can you? So do you just use them like a grappling hook fixed to your face? I've never seen a convincing answer.
- fbarred 4y agoWikipedia has a few convincing hypothesis. One is that sabre teeth are important for biting deep and reaching vital organs on large prey. After the megafauna went extinct, so did saber-toothed animals, and this adaptation was no longer needed.