Homologous Structures Essay

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Jesus Hernandez Toto Geology 107 Essay #2 Homologous Structures are characteristics of an organism’s morphology that have remained equal to the ones from its ancestors, regardless of their functions. This means that although evolution took place along the years, these organisms have been able to keep the same structure and. For example, the human arm, a bat wing and a dolphin’s flipper all have kept the same structure that comes from one ancestor, although each of them have different and specific functions. They all contain the same basic structure and even number of fingers at the end of their extremity and although through time evolution has reshaped them, they maintain the same form and its ancestor can be traced to be the exact same source. Vestigial structures are the characteristics or attributes of a given species, which have lost all or most of its ancestral function along time and evolutionary changes. There are several examples of vestigial structures in the human do by alone, such as the fifth toe in our feet and male nipples. Another example of a vestigial structure are the hip-bones remains that some whales have buried in their bodies which have no function at all and are believed to have been part of another extremity in their bodies. Embryonic development off vertebrates indicates that all animals have a common fish ancestor due to the way they develop when they are first forming. Even humans have the same characteristics, as must animals when they start to develop as embryos. This is due to the fact that animals share a common ancestor, fish. Even though through evolution and time these animals all grew to become different and develop particular features, they all were at some point during their ancestral life, a fish. http://news.discovery.com/animals/ancient-genes-embryos.htm

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