Posted on 04/25/2006 3:47:53 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Charles Darwin was fascinated by snakes — in particular, by the tiny hip and leg bones nestled inside boa constrictors and other species. They were some of the most striking cases of evolution's imprint. Snakes descended from walking ancestors, and as they adapted to slithering, their legs dwindled to a few vestiges.
It took more than a century after Darwin's death for paleontologists to find fossils of snakes with legs. In the last decade, they have found four species. The fourth, known as Najash rionegrini, was unveiled in the April 20 issue of the journal Nature, and it has reignited a debate about how snakes lost their legs.
[snip, as required by the NYT]
Dr. Zaher has added fresh fuel to this debate with his report on Najash rionegrini, of which he was a co-author with Sebastián Apesteguia of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences. Dr. Apesteguia discovered the 90-million-year-old fossil in 2003 in the Río Negro region of Argentina. The name Najash is the Hebrew word for the snake of the Garden of Eden. After finding the fossil, Dr. Apesteguia invited Dr. Zaher to help him study its anatomy.
"From the first moment, it was obvious to me that it was important snake," Dr. Zaher said.
[snip, as required by the NYT]
Dr. Zaher notes that Najash lived on land, a fact he says casts doubt on the ocean origin of snakes. Losing legs may instead have been an adaptation in early snakes for burrowing after prey.
[yet another snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Lizards have eye-lids. Snakes don't.
It's a scientific definition, that has nothing to do with the to slither or not debate, but it is a pertinent piece of info.
And on another note -- I don't really understand WHY the Personal Insult notes were posted in the midst of this debate {evidentally something has been deleted -- But I Love Those Notes! Liberty! Personal Freedom! Individual Rights! Hey! I Love That Stuff.
Great Forum.
James Carville. :)
They slither to emulate the tentacles of their Creator, the FSM. ;-)
Additional info -- There ARE also a few species of legless lizards. The important difference between lizards and snakes -- at least to a biologist is not legs -- it's eye-lids.
I'm the acting executive-officer-for-the-week of my anarcho-syndicalist commune of edaphologists.
I think you may have me confused with Sir Bedevere.
hehe
Where in the world to you guys get photos like that to post so quickly?
I have seen them a few years ago. BTW here is an interesting article about the two-legged worm lizard or mole lizard http://www.dfwherp.org/cth/hotm/hotm_base.php?year=2001&month=may&shortname=molelizard&author=cjf
Actually, our pet ball python eats mice.
I guess those legless lizards just got in the way when God cursed the snake. First incidence of collateral damage ;^)
I'd say it began when their politics turned liberal ;)
ping
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
"Actually, our pet ball python eats mice."
Maybe he was just talking the one snake
and not all snakes in general.
Hilarious!
Explain again how sheep bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes?
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