RE: Evolution and natural selection ARE the gods of this world!
June 13, 2015 at 7:42 pm
(This post was last modified: June 13, 2015 at 7:45 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(June 13, 2015 at 5:57 pm)IATIA Wrote:(June 13, 2015 at 12:46 pm)Chuck Wrote: Actually, flight and wings coevolved. Neither happened either for or because of the other.
Cannot fly without wings. Would not wings be necessary first then?
The behavior now used by birds for flying most likely first appeared in embryonic form to serve some other purpose than flight. For example a ground running bipedal dinosaur might flap its arms for balance while running. The same with the first evolutionary step that would eventually convert dinosaur forelimbs into full fledged wings. The elongation of feathers on the dinosaur forelimb might be for sexual display or for cushioning falls from trees.
So neither the first stage in behavior evolution towards flight, nor the first stage in physiological evolution towards flight, were individually driven by selection for flight. It so happens that if these two Purely by chance occur in the same animal, the animal can also get an additional bonus of combining these development and repurposing them for taking the first step towards flight, in addition to fulfilling the individual purposes for which behavior and physiological changes were respectively driven to serve.
