Convergence, Natural Selection, 'Survival of the Fittest'
1. One example of convergent evolution from Improbable Destinies is the evolution of the octopus's eyeballs which are almost identical to human eyeballs.
2. Convergent evolution is when two species develop similar features although they have differing ancestral origins. This differs from divergent evolution as that is the gradual difference of species that share a common ancestor due to their environment or lifestyle.
3. The example in number one is convergent evolution because our most common ancestor on the earth was over 550 million years ago and had no eyes of its own as it was a wormlike creature.
4. These two species could have developed convergent features due to the fact that by being able to see they were more suited to see prey and avoid predators. By doing these two things better than those who did not evolve to have eyes they organisms with this evolution was more likely to be able to survive longer and thus produce more offspring allowing the trait to be passed down through the generations.
Great explanation of convergent evolution! I love the image you used to exemplify how humans and octopus have similar eye features, but their only common ancestor does not, proving that they did evolve that feature separately instead of inheriting it from their extremely distant common ancestor.
ReplyDeleteI love your drawing! It's weird to think about how octopus and worms are related since they look nothing alike. The eyes developing is definitely interesting, and I believe earthworms have no eyes and use light receptors so it's kinda weird how that development occurred.
ReplyDeleteNice job on the Eye ball! Another reason on how Octopi are so cool! Thank you for explaining Convergence to me!
ReplyDeleteI particularly appreciate how you used the example of octopus and human eyes to talk about convergent evolution. I really liked learning about the ants and termites. But for humans and octopi, it's so cool how we as two very different species developed such similar adaptations despite having diverged from a common ancestor over 550 million years ago. I think you were definitely able to give a really great explanation !
ReplyDeleteI love your drawings! It would be interesting to talk about with your example the origin of eyes. I wonder if the worm common ancestor from millions of years ago had photoreceptors.
ReplyDeleteGreat question!!
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