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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 5, 2023 22:10:29 GMT 5
Why did primates evolve flatter faces and firward-facing eyes? Increased reliance on vision and decreased reliance on smell. |
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Post by Exalt on Dec 6, 2023 1:50:16 GMT 5
Thanks. But what caused those factors?
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 6, 2023 8:05:16 GMT 5
Thanks. But what caused those factors? An increasingly frugivorous diet would be my guess. Fruits are colorful, so it helps to be able to distinguish between what's ripe and what isn't or what's poisonous and what isn't. Couple that with an arboreal lifestyle (which requires good 3D navigation, hence binocular vision), it helped primates to have good vision (including good color vision). At the same time, they traded their ability to smell for this superior eyesight (more genes that controlled the sense of smell became non-functional). |
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Post by mechafire on Dec 6, 2023 13:12:32 GMT 5
Were the dholes and saigas who lived in North American during the Pleistocene the same species as modern dholes and saigas?
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 6, 2023 23:55:56 GMT 5
Were the dholes and saigas who lived in North American during the Pleistocene the same species as modern dholes and saigas? Yes. Alaska was home to two subspecies of saiga: S. t. tatarica (the nominate subspecies) and S. t. borealis, which is now extinct ( Ratajczak et al, 2016). The modern dhole species is also known from North America, as far down as Mexico, in fact ( Hodnett et al., 2009). |
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Post by Exalt on Dec 17, 2023 6:24:26 GMT 5
A broader question:
Can you put into words why this subject interests you?
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Post by Exalt on Dec 19, 2023 9:49:58 GMT 5
Is there a particular explanation behind how members of different species can form bonds? Whether that includes our own or not.
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 20, 2023 6:17:51 GMT 5
Is there a particular explanation behind how members of different species can form bonds? Whether that includes our own or not. I'd imagine it's as straightforward as most other things subject to natural selection. A population of species A consistently finds that a population of species B can help them find a resource or something, and boom. |
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Post by Exalt on Dec 20, 2023 6:50:50 GMT 5
I see.
Additionally, I would like to ask about differences between the Orca sexes. I was thinking earlier about how odd it is that females lead, despite having males in the pod, who are larger than them. It seems like it's less clear cut than some social species structures, but one detail seems to be that females tend to live longer than males, sometimes much more so, hence a female is more likely to have the knowledge and experience. I read that supposedly part of the issue is that male orcas depend on their mother for an extended period of time for where to find food, but then why do the daughters absorb this info better than the sons?
I could not find much consistency in terms of whether males or females are more likely to leave the pod for another, be it temporary or otherwise.
I'm not even sure what specifically to ask, so I just posted what I read on the subject.
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 21, 2023 7:38:54 GMT 5
I'd have to do some reading or refreshing on orca family dynamics before I can begin to answer that question.
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Post by mechafire on Dec 26, 2023 12:28:13 GMT 5
Were the dholes and saigas who lived in North American during the Pleistocene the same species as modern dholes and saigas? Yes. Alaska was home to two subspecies of saiga: S. t. tatarica (the nominate subspecies) and S. t. borealis, which is now extinct ( Ratajczak et al, 2016). The modern dhole species is also known from North America, as far down as Mexico, in fact ( Hodnett et al., 2009). Thanks. Was confused because I read things which just called them " Cuon" and " Saiga". Kinda weird how dholes went extinct in North America considering how widespread and adaptable they were. |
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Post by Exalt on Dec 28, 2023 2:51:04 GMT 5
I'm not sure how to phrase this one, but what factors might have caused Hominid diversification?
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 28, 2023 4:01:11 GMT 5
I'm not sure how to phrase this one, but what factors might have caused Hominid diversification? Definitely the change in climate. That's what resulted in many parts of Africa becoming more open savanna or grassland. That's what helped spawn the many hominin species, in addition to the forest-dwelling arboreal forms that lots of hominids probably already were (not to say that our last common ancestor with all other living great apes was some chimpanzee clone, but it must have been something that lived in trees). And that's just in Africa, so combine that with hominids that were living in Eurasia, and you got a lot of diversity. |
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Post by Exalt on Dec 30, 2023 10:39:48 GMT 5
Earlier, I put three things together. The first is the discussion about how T.rex had very large eyes and thus likely had very good sight. The second is that predatory birds are known for the same. (Both hawks and eagles have connotations of good eyesight.) The third is that the colors of extinct dinosaurs, both avian and non-avian, have been subject to a great deal of interpretation.
So my question: what are our ideas on dinosaur sight, and more importantly, did it affect them notably, in current estimations?
P.S. Do rhinos actually have poor eyesight, or not? The general wisdom is yes but I've seen pushback here and there.
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Post by Infinity Blade on Dec 31, 2023 4:47:18 GMT 5
Earlier, I put three things together. The first is the discussion about how T.rex had very large eyes and thus likely had very good sight. The second is that predatory birds are known for the same. (Both hawks and eagles have connotations of good eyesight.) The third is that the colors of extinct dinosaurs, both avian and non-avian, have been subject to a great deal of interpretation. So my question: what are our ideas on dinosaur sight, and more importantly, did it affect them notably, in current estimations? P.S. Do rhinos actually have poor eyesight, or not? The general wisdom is yes but I've seen pushback here and there. Eyesight must have varied within species (as you'd expect in a clade so diverse and long-lived), but yeah, plenty of dinosaurs seem to have had at least good eyesight. Certainly good color vision, since modern archosaurs generally have good color vision too. Not sure if that answered your question. As for rhino eyesight, I found this. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=8034a5c6c108deeb3cbfa7f165403ba208088efeThis seems to suggest that while rhino visual acuity isn't anything special, it's not terrible like it's often made out to be. |
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