Evolution Question...

[MikeW]

So, the dinosaurs...

They all started out as tiny organisms, right? And those tiny organism evolved into what we know, or think were, dinosaurs. Yes?

Then comes along big, bad, asteroid/comet that wipes out the entire planet. Does all kinda of damage and either kills all ife or causes storms/situations that end pretty much all life on Earth. Sound good so far?

Then, as the dust settles/clears, life begins again. As does evolution. Right?

So if "life" gets this second chance to re-form and re-evolve, does it take another path? Why didnt it continue the path it was on and evolve into dinosaurs again?

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I know it "evolved" and the second time around, it had to adapt differently, thusly not needing to "evolve" into dinosaurs. Im not a complete nood or idiot when it comes to this stuff. Im just thinking/hypothesising out loud.

I know all living things evolve. They adapt to their surroundings. And the first time around, they evolved/adapted into dinosaurs and the second time around, they adapted/evolved into what life is today. But it kinda makes you wonder. Why couldnt it have evolved back into dinosaurs? Was Earth really THAT much more different? What if that asteroid hadnt wiped them out? Would they have evolved into today's humans? Or would we be like the Mario Brothers movie and be a world of strange dinosaur/lizard/reptile hybrids?

Just thinking.

Discuss?


Oh, and can we just stay on the hypothetical track? I dont wanna get all preachy or uber opinionated and start talking about the whole "Evolution vs. Religion" thing. Not that there's anything wrong with that debate, it's just not what Im trying to discuss here.

[GeoffM]

But you do make a good point. I think evolution just took a different turn.
This just contributes to the fact that life as we know it only exists because we essentially won a "lottery". A bunch of things fell together that allowed life to exist.

[MikeW]

Cant see the pic.

A lottery...? Eh. Yeah, I guess. I mean, ultimately, that is kinda the case. Had something been different or gone a different way, there's no telling how things would've changed.

Kinda like why a lot of "people" believe that if you were to travel back that far, in time, stepping on even the smallest bug could have disasterous effects on the world today. The Simpsons actually did an episode about it once. Homer was able to travel back in time and each time he did, he stepped on something different or destroyed something and when he came back, life was different. Strangely, he lived in the same house, had the same wife/kids, they were just somehow different each time. But I digress.

IDK if the Butterfly effect would sort of have something to do with this or not. I actually think it does. Some times, happenings so small can have the biggest effect. Which is a whole other discussion Id like to have.

But I just often wonder; why did evolution not repeat itself? History does, or it's said to. Why didnt evolution? Perhaps it's in the word itself. The word "Evolution" means "to change or adapt". Kinda makes ya wonder how things could've been or might've been.

[deevergote]

Evolution is the adaptation of a species. It takes many paths. Right now, some other species may be slowly evolving into this planet's next dominant species.

What interests me is the idea that if the dinosaurs didn't get wiped out, would humans have continued to evolve as we did? Would we have coexisted?

[MikeW]

Were dinosaurs the dominate species? Did humans or humanoids exist during dinosaur times?

There again, if humanoids DID co-exist with dinosaurs, why did life evolve into humans, again, but not dinosaurs? But if humanoids and dinosaurs did co-exist, is it possible to think that the humans would've overcome the dinosaurs anyway? The primitive cavemen and primates that we evolved from, evoled into the primates and humans we know today but what would dinosaurs have evolved into? Maybe they evolved into birds, like some people think. Or maybe they exist today in the form of lizards, amphibians and reptiles.

[Masamune]

I have this sci-fi theory that we as a species once populated Mars. Think lush, habitable, and above all, within spitting distance of earth. In my mind of minds I envision some catastrophic even occuring, something so big it wipes literally everything off the planet, something along the lines of terraforming if you will. In a last ditch effort we get a ship off the ground and sent here, to earth, where we become the new dominant species. We are the asteroid, in both a literal and figurative sense.

/nerdgasm

[MikeW]

Watch the movie 'Mission to Mars'.

They stole your idea. Or you stole theirs. Whichever.

[Raf99]

Did monkeys/apes exist with dinosaurs, ya I guess so (or some strand of them). So valid question. How did monkeys (us) survive over T-Rex and friends. Or as you put it, why did we get the 2nd chance.
Maybe we were smart enough to hide in a hole like homer

[Ralphie]

You know that dinosaurs transcended into the birds we know today....

there was an interesting article a few months back in a edition of Wired that was saying if you change out a few genes and reccess other ones in our current chicken you would in turn have a dino!

Very interesting...i can try and find it but i don't know if i still have it.

I think that things were so tough that it did not allow the continuation of beasts of huge proportions....so they adapted to their enviorment and took on a smaller size....and it continued until earth could sustain larger mammals etc.

And here we are.




edit- found the article

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/0...ensaurus/all/1

Enjoy!

[Saidaigen8]

Evolution and adaptation go hand in hand. The world is VERY different than when it was 65 million years ago. The human history of evolution is special and has stumped experts for a long time. I dont remember the details but there was a point in time where humans were on a normal (compared to all the other animals in the world) evolutionary path and all of the sudden it seemed to skip a phase. Some people believe that this is when aliens intervened. Also this is where the "missing link" comes in and its what experts are trying to find out. I think the oldest human skeleton found to date is like 5 or 6 million years old.

[MikeW]

You know that dinosaurs transcended into the birds we know today....

there was an interesting article a few months back in a edition of Wired that was saying if you change out a few genes and reccess other ones in our current chicken you would in turn have a dino!

Very interesting...i can try and find it but i don't know if i still have it.

I think that things were so tough that it did not allow the continuation of beasts of huge proportions....so they adapted to their enviorment and took on a smaller size....and it continued until earth could sustain larger mammals etc.

And here we are.




edit- found the article

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/0...ensaurus/all/1

Enjoy!

Very interesting! I loved this quote,

"the field of evolutionary developmental biology—evo devo—which focuses on figuring out the molecular mechanisms of evolution. It’s a basic fact of biology that living things change over generations, shaped by the randomness of genetic mutation and the winnowing effects of the environment. "

...that's what Im after. But everything discussed in that article was awesome. With the right amount of time and funding, I bet it could be done. I love the idea of using certain gene sequences and using them like brake shoes. Figuring out how to deploy them earlier or later to get the desired result. That's awesome stuff.

[GeoffM]

Cant see the pic.

The first pic was essentially this:

What interests me is the idea that if the dinosaurs didn't get wiped out, would humans have continued to evolve as we did? Would we have coexisted?

[Bullhorn7]

Ancestors of humans fight dinosaurs for dominance and are not the dominant species. The crater that makes up half of Mexico forms and wipes out dinosaur, Humans prosper as a result.

[Tnwagn]

Ancestors of humans fight dinosaurs for dominance and are not the dominant species. The crater that makes up half of Mexico forms and wipes out dinosaur, Humans prosper as a result.

No

65 million years since the non-avian dinosaurs died out
2.5 million years since the appearance of the genus Homo

True primates didn't even show up until 60 million years ago.

The answer to the OP's question is still a debate that is ongoing among top paleontologists. There are many wide-ranged theories; some believe it has to do with the fact mammals lived in caves or water dwellings.

[MikeW]

More interesting reads. Good find George.

So genus homo and dinosaurs never co-existed. Does the genus homo include anything and everything that evolved into humans? So, it's safe to say that there werent even human-like species around then. If there were, we havent found evidence of them yet.

There were however, other mammals that did manage to survive. Hmm.