What are the most striking examples of convergent evolution?
Evolution keeps inventing the same solutions independently - eyes evolved separately at least 40 times.
The answer
Convergent evolution produces remarkably similar structures in unrelated species facing similar challenges. The camera eye evolved independently in vertebrates and octopuses - yet the octopus eye actually lacks our blind spot. Echolocation arose separately in bats and dolphins, using nearly identical genetic changes in the prestin gene. Sharks (fish) and dolphins (mammals) developed almost identical streamlined body shapes through hydrodynamic optimization. Sugar gliders (marsupials) and flying squirrels (placental mammals) evolved matching gliding membranes on separate continents. Perhaps most remarkably, the protein antifreeze solution in Arctic cod and Antarctic notothenioid fish evolved independently from completely different genes, yet produces functionally identical ice-binding proteins.
Source: BBC Science Focus
- convergent evolution
- adaptation
- natural selection
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