When Animals Evolve On Islands, Size Doesn't Matter

Science Daily ^ | 11-8-2007 | Imperial College London.

[BlazingArizona]

Count down to the first drive-by creationst who comes along and pretends that the validity of all evolutionary theory hangs on the merits of insular dwarfism...

5...4...3....

Sadly, the actual count was -1. The Democrats get to play "Keep Away" with our lunches once again.

[PAR35]

In theology, this would fall under ‘presuppositional apologetics’.

[BlazingArizona]

Because it's true.... there are lots of cases of miniature animals on islands.

IANAB (...biologist), but I think it's more a matter of natural selection going weird in a situation of small sample size. That's why New Zealand, to take one example, got the three-eyed lizard, the six-foot earthworm that glows in the dark, and the alpine parrot that has an IQ higher than most politicians.

[Alter Kaker]

That's why New Zealand, to take one example, got the three-eyed lizard, the six-foot earthworm that glows in the dark, and the alpine parrot that has an IQ higher than most politicians.

Sounds like the bar scene in Star Wars. :-)

[CholeraJoe]

Same situation with Steamer ducks. They are native to the Falkland Islands and a few other small islands off the coast of South America. Big, flightless ducks.

[blam]

"...the alpine parrot that has an IQ higher than most politicians."

Beautiful bird. The Kea pictures.

[kcar]

Aren’t pygmies from that island called Africa?

[USMA '71]

When Animals Evolve On Islands, Size Doesn't Matter..

And just how will this knowledge change the world for the better???

[3niner]

“Evolution will prove to be the biggest lie perpetrated on mankind.”

The "biggist lie perpetrated [up]on mankind" is the idea that stupid, insane, and dishonest people are as likely to be correct as those who are intelligent, rational, and honest, because "everyone is entitled to their own opinion".

[Fred Nerks]

Tachyeres brachypterus is the flightless Steamer Duck...there is a flying Steamer Duck:

http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/flyingsteamer-duck.html

Tachyeres patachonicus

The Flying Steamer-duck is distributed in southern Chile, the extreme south of Argentina, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. It is the only steamer-duck that is found on inland water-bodies as well as at the coast...

[EveningStar]

I think they’re here.

[Fred Nerks]

Meanwhile, DownUnder there's a flightless bird that SWIMS. Cassowaries have been seen to swim between Whitsunday Islands and the Mainland.

http://www.damisela.com/zoo/ave/ratities/casuario/casuarius/indexe.htm

The Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is natural of the coastal area to the northeast of Queensland, Australia. It is also present on low elevations regions of New Guinea and some of the smaller nearby islands. Usually stays at low elevations. This species is the one with southern most distribution among the three cassowaries, that is why it is called the “Southern Cassowary”.

The Southern Cassowary prefers the thick vegetations, such as the tropical jungles of forests.

Normally stays solitary and hidden inside the vegetation. It is hard to observe this bird in its natural habitat since it remains where the vegetation is abundant. Occasionally it comes out to clearings or the edges of the jungle, but never far into the opening. They have also been seeing crossing rivers swimming, which it can do rather well...

[blam]

NEAT.

[Fred Nerks]

dangerous - approach with caution!

dinosaur footprints...

[SunkenCiv]

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[Dustbunny]

Another ‘theory’ debunked!

[Varda]

Interesting! Evolution on islands is a great topic. I remember reading about lizards on different islands having the same morphology but different genomes. The explanation was that as the different founder populations spread into new environments they evolved the same set of characteristics in similar environments. Therefore even though all the mountain lizards populations looked alike they were genetically closer to the beach lizards on the same island than the mountain lizards on the next island.

[wildbill]

Tell that to the females.

[SunkenCiv]

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