Dear Tombster

Fossils reveal untold refinements in life forms, lifestyles, and life-and-death issues, as many successful prosimians adjusted to the best available niches within constantly changing environments. Generation after generation of natural selection gradually changed paws into hands. Stubby claws eventually became flexible fingers. And the opposable thumb took shape as a superior tool for maneuvering among the branches. These were not anatomical changes that occurred as individuals grew during single lifetimes. Rather, they were genetic changes endured over the course of millions of years as the environment promoted some traits, rejected many others, and generally made life miserable for most. Favorable mutations gave those prosimians having good balance, keen eyesight, and dexterous hands and fingers a naturally increased opportunity for survival within their newly found tree-based venue. Some creatures more than others excelled in jumping, leaping, swinging, clinging, grasping, and scavenging. Those better adapted to the lofty environment not only reproduced more efficiently, but also passed their favorable traits on to future generations of offspring. The result, documented by the fossils, was widespread speciation causing the creation of legions of novel tree-dwelling life forms.

Posted By: Old Git on July 6th 2007 at 14:09:40

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in