Metamorphoses of evolution: what is actually more important - arms or legs

The importance of certain extremities depends on what environment the species is in and in general. Both humans and many animals have four limbs - upper and lower, or front and rear. That is, in fact, animals also have their own hands and feet. But which type of extremities is more important? According to scientists, in order to answer this question, you need to understand what kind of living creatures it is, writes Live Science. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel.

Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! According to John Hutchinson from the Royal Veterinary College, London, the United Kingdom, all animals live in different habitats, and evolution has created certain patterns that help to understand which of the extremities is more important. Speaking of people, a person uses two lower extremities, that is, his feet. We do not need four legs to move, and even more so for this we don't need hands.

As a result of evolution, it turned out that a person is still more important for a person, because without hands, people can still survive, and without their feet, if there are no auxiliary adaptations - no. According to Matthew Ravosses from John Hopkins University, the United States, people's feet are stronger, larger in size and hardy in their hands, so a person is uniquely among living creatures to be the category of "legs more important".

But the most striking representative of this peculiar category among all animals that have ever lived on Earth was tyrannosaurus. For a total body length of about 13. 5 meters, the length of the front paws of this predatory dinosaur was only 90 cm. It is like a person of 1. 8 meters in height will be almost 13 cm long. According to Hutchinson, the first tyrannosaur Long forelimbs, like many predators hundreds of millions of years ago.

But then during the evolution, these paws decreased in size and the main role began to play the hind limbs and, of course, a massive head with a huge jaw full of sharp teeth. The scientist believes that reducing the front paws made it possible to evolve and buy a huge head so that it could easily grasp the prey with their huge teeth. At the same time, according to ravos, for birds their "hands", that is, wings, are much more important than paws.

In fact, the wings are modified forelimbs so that the birds can fly. And often wings are the largest part of the body capable of flying birds. For example, a bird such as wandering albatros, from the length of the body, from the tip of the beak to the tail, 1. 3 meters, has a wingspan of 3. 3 meters. Therefore, any serious damage to the wings leads to the inevitable death of the bird. Therefore, they can be attributed to the category "hands, that is, the wings are more important".

Of course, there are species of living creatures on Earth, which cannot be said that some limb is more important because they do not have them. The same snakes or acne in the absence of extremities can move well in their habitat and successfully catch prey. Any such appendage would only interfere with them, but evolution has taken care of it, scientists say. According to focus, the recent discovery of scientists can change the idea of ​​the evolution of fish, including sharks.