|
|
role of snakes on human evolution
Posted by:
Panchito
()
Date: October 29, 2013 08:33PM [news.sciencemag.org]
"The deadly threat of snakes may have driven humans to develop a complex and specialized visual system. Snakes were “the first and most persistent predators” of early mammals, says Lynne Isbell, a behavioral ecologist the University of California, Davis. They were such a critical threat, she has long argued, that they shaped the emergence and evolution of primates. By selecting for traits that helped animals avoid them, snakes ultimately endowed us with forward-facing eyes, for example, and enlarged visual centers deep in our brains that are specialized for picking out specific features in the world around us, such as the general shape of a snake’s body camouflaged among leaves." Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
|
|
