Creation & EvolutionForum for the discussion of this important topic. This forum is open to non-believers. There is a Christians-only forum in the Christians-only section too.
This can be a thread where people, like myself, can ask questions on all things evolution that would otherwise never be answered.
My idiot's question.
Regarding the evolution of mammals. Humans and the platypus are both examples of mammals. Did these, and other mammal species, evolve from one single pre-historic mammal species or did they independently evolve the biological mechanisms that classify it as being mammalian?
If anyone else has any questions please post them here, as I will when more mysteries pop into my brain.
Regarding the evolution of mammals. Humans and the platypus are both examples of mammals. Did these, and other mammal species, evolve from one single pre-historic mammal species
Well, "mammal like" Don't forget the platypus lays eggs. But basically yes.
or did they independently evolve the biological mechanisms that classify it as being mammalian?
No.
I am not sure how terse or verbose you want these answers.
__________________ I hear stories from the chamber / How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger / Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade / Or at least that's what I'm told
--Mercy Seat, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
So every single mammal on earth all evolved from one single species of ancient mammal-like creature?
If you go back far enough, yes. Then again, according to the Last Universal Ancestor hypothesis, if you go back far enough all life that's ever existed on this planet shared a single ancestor about 3.6 to 4.1 billion years ago.
__________________ FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who
speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
__________________ You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
Why are there still cellphones from 2000 when newer better versions were developed here in 2007?
(More seriously though, humans and other primates branched off a common ancestor, it's a tree not a staircase)
I know.
__________________ You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
Ok, here is my idiotic question: How did humans end up mostly hairless? Why did we evolve away from being covered in thick hair like all of the other apes? Also, why were some of us cursed with the baldness gene?
__________________
The human race will begin solving its problems on the day that it ceases taking itself so seriously - Principia Discordia
All there is is metaphor - Robert Anton Wilson
Do not offend the Chair Leg of Truth. It is wise and terrible! - Spider Jerusalem
Ok, here is my idiotic question: How did humans end up mostly hairless? Why did we evolve away from being covered in thick hair like all of the other apes? Also, why were some of us cursed with the baldness gene?
My guess would be sexual selection. Tell me, do you really think a hairy woman looks good? Many women feel the same way about overly-hairy guys. Baldness can also look distinctive.
__________________ “It took me years, but letting go of religion has been the most profound wake up of my life. I feel I now look at the world not as a child, but as an adult. I see what's bad and it's really bad. But I also see what is beautiful, what is wonderful. And I feel so deeply appreciative that I am alive. How dare the religious use the term 'born again.' That truly describes freethinkers who've thrown off the shackles of religion so much better!” - Julia Sweeney
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