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Something related I wonder about: consider seals, sea lions, elephant seals, walruses and whales. In those species are we seeing the process of the convergent e
by ckw 4y ago
Something related I wonder about: consider seals, sea lions, elephant seals, walruses and whales. In those species are we seeing the process of the convergent evolution of a land occupying species toward a purely oceanic going whale form species, where the boundary between land and sea represents a transitional niche which can be occupied only by evolutionarily unstable forms? So that if you could see a sort of extreme time lapse video of this transitional zone, you would repeatedly see a land animal gravitate toward the sea, be caught by the surf, and then “melt” into it and into the form of a whale, then disappear, to be replaced by another land animal, and so on.
- sopooneo 4y agoAs far as I can tell, there is some degree of convergent evolution, with current sea mammal all coming from three separate earth-to-sea ancestors. There’s the seal, sea lion, walrus line. The whale, dolphin line. And finally the humble sea cow / manatee line.
- Zuider 4y agoIn that scheme, otters, and possibly beavers, might represent the beginning of the process. The ancestors of the whale looked like furry alligators.