Show us yours: convergent evolution

I decided to start a different kind of ''show us yours'', this time focusing on convergent evolution.
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Convergent evolution is all about two distantly related organisms evolving similar appearances in order to adapt to the enverionment they live in. The wing is a perfect example of convergent evolution!

There are tons of examples we can come up with, I am really curious to see as many as possible.
Here are my 4:

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dolphins and ichtyosaurs

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sea turtles and Henodus

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ankylosaurs and armadillos

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echidnas and hedgehogs

Fantastic idea for the topic Mihnea! I enjoy seeing the photos and I think I have an idea for my answer for the subject

I look very much forward to seing what this topic brings

Yours are SO great, mihnea, you are a very knowledgeable young man

Haha, my favorite long tongues
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Sorry for quality of picture, it's taken from my mobile cam.

What an exciting and thoughtful topic!

I have nothing to contribute, but I will surely enjoy watching this! :)

-Kristie

Kristie wrote:

What an exciting and thoughtful topic!

I have nothing to contribute, but I will surely enjoy watching this! :)

-Kristie

Nothing to offer too! Just watching!

Great idea Mihnea.

I think all of you have examples to offer. But this subject needed an introduction once these concepts are not always obvious mainly in a foreign language.
I don't want to make the role of a teacher or so once I'm not an expert but Mihnea is showing some traditional and dramatic examples of convergent evolution. I enjoy particularly the ichthyosaurus with the dolphin. The first is a reptile, so much closer related with a crocodile than with a dolphin that is a mammal. But they are really similar in shape.
A Ichthyosaurus is not a ancient dolphin. So, even they derive from completly different ancestours and lines of evolutions, they are very similar in appearance due to several aspects.
Woolly rhinos and modern rhinos are not necessarly an example of convergent evolution once they share a relatively recent common ancestral.
You can read a little in Wikipedia about this subject. :)
Ana, long tongues are also an example of convergent evolution!

Like the * slow worm* which looks almost exactly like a snake, but is really a lizzard without legs ?

Yes, of course Roger, you're right. So, I have not thought exactly. The issue is more complicated than it first looks.

SUSANNE wrote:

Like the * slow worm* which looks almost exactly like a snake, but is really a lizzard without legs ?

Exactly Susanne! :)
Even both are reptiles they achieved a similar shape in 2 different lines of evolution. As you are saying, slow worm looks like a snake but is a lizard. So closer related to legged lizards than with snakes. Not as dramatic as Mihnea examples but a perfect one.

75senta75 wrote:

Yes, of course Roger, you're right. So, I have not thought exactly. The issue is more complicated than it first looks.

It sure is.
My head keeps trying to wriggle over to animals that are related, but don`t look alike
Also I don`t know so much about it

But let me try.
I hope these are the right kind : Two horns on the nose and short legs

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From left :
- Arsinothereum from Safari. Related to the elefant.
- Rhinoceros laineux from Starlux, - an early rhino
- Brontotherium from Starlux, related to the horse !!!
("Related to" is according to Wikipedia)

75senta75 wrote:

Yes, of course Roger, you're right. So, I have not thought exactly. The issue is more complicated than it first looks.

Yvette, your pictures are very good and really interesting! :) I enjoy seeing how convergent are interpretations of Bullyland and Schleich for a different rhino species!
I also enjoy the humouristic cats!
The concept is not easy but not as hard as to know all horses' colors! Unless for me!

SUSANNE wrote:

75senta75 wrote:

Yes, of course Roger, you're right. So, I have not thought exactly. The issue is more complicated than it first looks.

It sure is.
My head keeps trying to wriggle over to animals that are related, but don`t look alike
Also I don`t know so much about it

But let me try.
I hope these are the right kind : Two horns on the nose and short legs

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From left :
- Arsinothereum from Safari. Related to the elefant.
- Rhinoceros laineux from Starlux, - an early rhino
- Brontotherium from Starlux, related to the horse !!!
("Related to" is according to Wikipedia)

Yes, Susanne! All rhinos are close related to horses. So the Arsinotherium is a very good example. It is from a different evolution line and looks clearly like a rhino. Curious point that the horns of arsinotherium are made of bone while from rhinos are made of keratin! :) Perfect example! :)
Sorry, I'm posting and posting and showing nothing but it is more i nteresting to follow the subject of the topic!

Thanks alot Roger for the biology lesson! You are right, modern rhinos and wooly rhinos are closely related, that's not convergent evolution. But those prehsitoric beasts Susanne posted are surely quite distant from one another.

Btw, I did post a link to Wikipedia on top of the page for more info on the subject!

ana wrote:

Haha, my favorite long tongues
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Sorry for quality of picture, it's taken from my mobile cam.

My favourites too!

Very interesting and nice idea, Mihnea. :)

It may be easier to illustrate this in animals are extant (animals still alive today) rather then extinct animals because in extinct animals the relationships may not be apparent. A really good example of extinct convergent evolution is the dolphin and ichthyosaur as mentioned at the beginning but a better illustration of the armadillo and ankylosaur is the reptile ankylosaur and the mammals like glyptodon, the convergence is easier to see. Here are several examples that will illustrate the point, I don't have any good photos but you can easily look pictures of them up on the internet but the very best example to show this is seals (family Phocidae) and sea lions (family Otariidae). They look almost exactly alike but sea lions are most closely related to bears while seals are more related to weasels and otters. There is some evidence that they may have a common ancestor but this is not been accepted by most scientists or supported by enough evidence (even though some site this as fact like Wikipedia)

If you actually look at the animals the difference is so apparent that you can easily tell that they are not closely related. Watch some videos and you will see what I am talking about but here are just a few examples.

Seals have no external ear flap (just a small opening like a reptile) while seal lions have small ears.

Seals swim by moving the back flippers back and forth like a fish, sea lions swim with the front flippers, this makes them much faster and they move at the surface like a dolphin with nose first arcing dives, while seals are slower and surface and dive with the head and nose last like a person, first going underwater then beginning their forward progress.

Seals are what they call "belly walkers", they move across the dry sand like a caterpillar, rocking across the ground on the belly, seals walk with the front and back flippers more like a typical mammal, even though the flippers are short so it looks funny.

Seals can not turn the back flippers forward, sea lions can and do.

There are many more differences but those illustrate the differences even though if you just look at the two animals together you can easily think they are in the same family.

Another pair that shows this is a sugar glider and a flying squirrel. They look almost exactly the same but sugar gliders are marsupials and flying squirrels are rodents. Even though they are extinct, thylacine looks like a striped wolf but again is a marsupial, not a canine. Bats and birds are another example, they are very similar but not at all closely related. I could go on and on but these should give you many examples of what convergent evolution is.

Interesting imput Phil!

Wildheart wrote:

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echidnas and hedgehogs

Does anyone know what company made the echidna and if there are other animals that belong to the same collection as him? I have one too that I fished out of the $0.10 bin at one of my local thrift stores. A nice, well-made figure of an unusual animal, I just couldn't pass it up. I've been pondering his provenance for the past couple years so was hoping someone here might be able to help me out.

It is a Science & Nature, and Australian company which is producing very fine and rare Australian species.

You can see them HERE

You can see lots of pictures here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The birds are beautyful also .

Adding one more link to those Kiki and Susanne placed here. :)
You can find all the complete list of Science & Nature figures on Toy Animal Wiki... Click here!