How did whales, porpoises, and dolphins evolve?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 11:50 AM) [snapback]428356[/snapback]</div>

Possible inbreeding? :lol: :lol:

Really I have no clue, But intresting question...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 11:50 AM) [snapback]428356[/snapback]</div>

Take a look at seals and sea lions. They are one step away from being a whale or dolphin. All of their food is in the water. They move very awkwardly on land. Their legs are fused together and their feet form horizontal flippers. They can hold their breath and dive for long periods. They are excellent and graceful swimmers. They only come up on to land to rest, breed, and raise their young. It wouldn't be much of an evolutionary leap for them to become purely water animals. Add a new land based predator into their habitat, and they might start spending more and more time in the water, eventually staying in the water and not leaving.

 

Evolution does not "make sense." It happens because as niches open up, creatures occupy them. Read a biology textbook to learn the evolutionary route of cetatians.

Consider the grizzly bear: Lives its entire life on land, but during the salmon run it gets its food from the water.

Consider the penguin: It gets all its food from the water but returns to land to breed.

Consider the seal: It mostly lives in the sea, but comes on land to breed, and to rest occasionally, or to get a job in the circus.

Cetatians have gone completely back to the sea.

Wherever there is a living to be had, some creature will live and thrive there. Evolution does not design creatures according to any preconceived plan or reason. It simply fits them to the environment they find themselves in.

I think you are asking the wrong question. Again, I suggest a biology textbook, or The Teaching Company

 

interesting question... Not being an marine biologist, i can't really say what benefits they might enjoy by being air breathers - do their lungs process oxygen better than fish's lungs process water?

It's possible, i would think, that they did emerge from the water, but then went back for environment reasons - Predators might have driven them off the land, or a mass extinction event (like the supposed meteor that killed the dinosaurs) made land based survival very difficult - you know what they say about the number of fish in the Ocean. in fact, most whales don't have teeth, and survive by eating smaller organisms like plankton or krill, which would probably survive better than the larger animals during a period of global extinction.

At any rate, these are just semi-educated guesses... Like i said, i'm not a marine biologist (in fact, it's been 8-10 years since i've taken a biology class...), and don't really know what i'm talking about...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 11:50 AM) [snapback]428356[/snapback]</div>

They did not evolve, God created them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 23 2007, 09:11 AM) [snapback]428377[/snapback]</div>

I hope you are just trying to be funny. God is clearly imaginary!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 23 2007, 06:11 PM) [snapback]428377[/snapback]</div>

Nobody ever told me that. It all makes perfect sense now that I know!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 10:50 AM) [snapback]428356[/snapback]</div>

Maybe circuitous to you but not to them. Remember there is no plan. Genomes respond to the present environment.

The evolution of cetaceans has been well documented with many intermediate form fossils found. They belong to the class Artyodactyl along with pigs and hippos. Amazingly cetaceans are as closely related to pigs as they are to hippos!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 12:36 PM) [snapback]428400[/snapback]</div>

actually they decided not to abort me....

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 06:46 PM) [snapback]428409[/snapback]</div>

That depends on what you consider 'logical'. There is no plan, whatever mutation suits the environment at that specific point in time and space best gets the best chance of survival. That does not imply that species always evolve into something better in the long term. And it does not imply that species cannot regain features once lost. Nor does it imply that we are 'ultimate result' of evolution so far. One could argue that crocodiles have a far better track record than the species that now needs 5 earth size planets or so to survive.

The 'right' question would probably be: what kind of environment caused these changes to have a better chance of survival at the time?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 01:01 PM) [snapback]428426[/snapback]</div>

from your perspective that is not the simple question. obviously my parents created me - and they have been given GOD LIKE authority over my life and death in utero from unGod-like people who pretend to be God.

the question is who created the first humans and for some with some real thinking caps on is did God creat the world and start the evolutionary process? how do you know if God did not create the world from whatever point in time you want to choose and the rest is "history"? perhaps intelligent design started 15 billions years ago?

so simple answer there for you - and perhaps some simple thoughts from you pertaining to my other points?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Apr 23 2007, 01:39 PM) [snapback]428450[/snapback]</div>

what is "absurd" is people telling people who believe in God that they are wrong!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 23 2007, 12:17 PM) [snapback]428437[/snapback]</div>

There is no evidence for the God hypothesis. All the evidence so far points to a completely materialistic explanation.

 

I have to warn you all. Only verified truths are allowed on FHOP. I learned my lesson on this earlier today. Most of this thread is inappropriate and I implore you to stop it at once.

:lol:

God created the dolphins. Man became sinful and did a whole lot to try to hide from God. Along the way, they created god (small g) in thier own image.. whoops, rather than being created in His image... and in trying to explain thier little g-god, they came up with darwinism.

I'm so glad the rods in the eye evolved in the same part of the world as the cornea and lens and the other parts of the eye... and also glad they all did it on the same 100 million years. Can you imagine how useless the cornea would be if it evolved on it's own without the rods.. .in fact by darwins theory, a useless cornea wouldn't evolve without being needed, so it's just real lucky all the various parts evolved at the same time. And one day that bacterium blinked, looked up and saw God..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 23 2007, 12:04 PM) [snapback]428369[/snapback]</div>

Damn seals, stealing jobs from Americans and not paying taxes! Probably get health care, too.