Japanese researchers find dolphin with 'remains of legs'

[Aft3r ImaGe]

Japanese researchers find dolphin with 'remains of legs'

Full article below:

quote:

Japanese researchers find dolphin with 'remains of legs'

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese researchers said Sunday a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of back legs, providing further evidence ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land.

Fishermen captured the four-finned dolphin off the coast of Wakayama prefecture in western Japan on Oct. 28 and alerted the nearby Taiji Whaling Museum, said museum director Katsuki Hayashi.

Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared.

Though odd-shaped protrusions have been found near the tails of dolphins and whales captured in the past, researchers thought it was the first time one had been found with well-developed, symmetrical fins, Hayashi said.

"I believe the fins may be remains from the time when dolphins' ancient ancestors lived on land...this is an unprecedented discovery," said Seiji Osumi, an adviser at Tokyo's Institute of Cetacean Research, at a news conference televised Sunday.

The second set of fins - much smaller than the dolphin's front fins - are about the size of human hands and protrude from near the tail on the dolphin's underside. The dolphin measures 2.72 metres and is about five years old, the museum said.

A freak mutation may have caused the ancient trait to reassert itself, Osumi said. The dolphin will be kept at the Taiji museum for X-ray and DNA tests, Hayashi said.

The Canadian Press, 2006

This would seem to support the idea of evolution, which as of lately has also become a religious issue, which is why it is in this forum.

[truorion]

Very interesting. It's been shown in evolution that the 5 fingers and toes are a primitive trait that all mammals share. Horses even have the toes under their hooves, and the big toe is actually further up in their legs. Now the only thing I could find in the article that may be controversial is that most evolutionists believe we originiated in the water and then took to land. If you think about it, maybe the dolphin was an in-between example of how animals developed limbs to climb onto land, not into water.

[Martini]

pic included:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...lphinlegs.html

[Real.PUA]

Yes, evolution is a fact.

Check out this recent experiment:

Novel experiment documents evolution of genome in near-real time

http://tinyurl.com/uq46e

[DrGay]

god gave him those fphins so he cud swim beter>

[z.neocide]

quote:Originally posted by DrGay:

god gave him those fphins so he cud swim beter>

Mmm...interesting wanna bring that to the schools and teach it as science?

[Peanutbutter Soup]

quote:Originally posted by truorion:

If you think about it, maybe the dolphin was an in-between example of how animals developed limbs to climb onto land, not into water.

The general scientific consensus is that whales and dolphins share a terrestrial common ancestor, and if I remember correctly, their closest relatives are hippos, with both fossil and molecular evidence supporting this.

If it's the same as in snakes (which I would think it would be, since these genes are relatively highly conserved across the animal kingdom), then the normal lack of hind limbs is due to the lack of expression of the Hox gene Sonic Hedgehog (I'm not joking), among others. Something fucked up in the regulation of these genes during the fetal development of this dolphin in order for it to express hind limbs.

Edit: Thought of something else...

Also, dolphins are mammals. The first animals to emerge on land (besides arthropods) were amphibious, and later reptiles. The fossil record (and I'm pretty sure molecular biology as well) gives direct evidence supporting this, along with the notion that mammals are "younger" than amphibians/reptiles. That, taken with the evidence showing relatedness with animals on land before cetaceans (marine mammals) made it back to the water, gives a pretty compelling case for the ancestors of modern dolphins/whales/porpoises returning to the oceans.

Edit (again): spelling error, goddammit



[This message has been edited by Peanutbutter Soup (edited 11-07-2006).]

[Aft3r ImaGe]

I learned something from this thread.

[gogetalife13579]

quote:Originally posted by Real.PUA:

Yes, evolution is a fact.

Check out this recent experiment:

Novel experiment documents evolution of genome in near-real time

http://tinyurl.com/uq46e

Actually, evolution has not yet been proven fact. Please don't pull shit out of your ass.

[Aft3r ImaGe]

quote:Originally posted by gogetalife13579:

Actually, evolution has not yet been proven fact. Please don't pull shit out of your ass.

Evolution it's self or the theory of natural selection?