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02-24-2003, 04:38 PM | #81 | |
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02-24-2003, 05:17 PM | #82 | |
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02-24-2003, 05:19 PM | #83 |
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Huh?
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02-24-2003, 06:27 PM | #84 |
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I'm not sure your bat ear question can be answered as phrased, because bats evolved from mammals that already had ears.
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02-24-2003, 09:50 PM | #85 |
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Keith, I'm not sure this is what you are looking for- but we recently discussed the processes which form rock/soil patterns in artic climates, here.
The mechanical sorting processes which produce circular, linear, or labyrinthine patterns are only beginning to be understood, but the patterns formed *look* as if they are designed, when in fact they are no more evidence of intelligence than the sinuous shapes of sand dunes, or the swirling patterns of frost, or the crystalline shapes of snowflakes. |
02-25-2003, 06:15 AM | #86 | |
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02-25-2003, 06:28 AM | #87 | |
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02-25-2003, 07:00 AM | #88 | |
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There's plenty of examples of mammals without external ears (the 'pinna', iirc): cetaceans (whales and dolphins), moles, seals (one way to distinguish seals from sea lions, which do have them), naked mole rats, etc. Basically, if it could get in the way, in water or in a tunnel, then the mammal may well not have them. I’m not certain, but I very strongly suspect that all mammals have internal ears. This is a confident evolutionary prediction, because the development of the ear bones (malleus, incus and stapes) from jaw bone elements is one of the best examples of something developing from something else in the fossil record... and it occurred in the mammal-like reptiles. The basic -- basal -- condition of mammals, from right back at the group’s inception, is to have these bits. I expect there are also some ear-less congenital abnormalities too -- but these would be abnormalities. Cheers, DT |
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02-25-2003, 08:10 AM | #89 | |
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02-25-2003, 08:36 AM | #90 | |
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Yours ready 'n' waiting, with Typhlomolge and laryngeals loaded and cocked, DT |
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