The whale and the bat have a very similar shaped bone structure in the whale's fin and the bat's wing. The whale's fin is designed to help it maneuver around in the ocean. It allow the wale the muscle power and steering accuracy it needs swim deep under water. The bat's wing is designed to help it maneuver in the air. The wing can help the bat keep itself suspended in air, as well as steer themselves in the right direction. The wing can also be use for protection; however, both are very similar in their structures, showing that they came from a common ancestor before they evolved into different animals.
An example of analogous structure would be the Butterfly wing (first on the left), and the wing of a bird such as a seagull (third from the left). These two wings are completely different yet alike in many ways. Both of these wings are used to help the animal fly and maneuver through the air; however, they are structured completely differently. These traits are not the same through common ancestry. These traits have been adapted by these animals that are not related. The butterfly is an insect, and the seagull is a bird, so they do not have a common ancestor that contains this trait. Evolution had split these animals into two different categories, before pressuring both into developing wings.
Seems like bats might even be traced back to whales too. I think it's very interesting how whales and bats have similar bone structures and how they are used differently. Some times it can even make you wonder how it is that a whale (water base animal) shares so many traits with land animals.
ReplyDeleteA seagull and a moth are two different species that share the ability of flight. Though a seagull has long wings covered with feathers and a moth has no feathers on its wings it does have a sort of powder on them. It's interesting how these to have a common trait even though they dont share a common ancestor.
Whales (aquatic mammals) and bats (a type of rodent) are from two distinct evolutionary lines in the mammal grouping. They share a common ancestor but they are not themselves ancestors of each other.
DeleteGood description of their differences in structure and function. What similarities in the structure of the whale and bat limbs do you see that suggest a common origin? The similarity themselves doesn't necessarily mean descent from a common ancestor. Can you speculate as to who the common ancestor was? What type of limb did that ancestor have?
ReplyDeleteGood description on the analogous trait. It is likely that their common ancestor (several hundred million years ago) did not have wings, although even if it did (and the butterfly inherited the trait), we do know that birds developed wings independently as they split from reptiles, so that confirms that these are analogous traits. That is the key here.
Overall, good post.