Key Idea.
Section 1
The Paradox of Similarity and Difference
We can now explain why a whale looks so different from a wolf, yet has the same bones.
Section 2
Environment Sculpts the Form
Evolution modifies the form to fit the function required by the environment. The environment acts as a sculptor.
It takes the clay (the inherited ancestral body plan) and reshapes it to survive in a specific habitat. But it never throws the clay away—the core material (skeletal structure) remains the same.
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Section 1
The Paradox of Similarity and Difference
We can now explain why a whale looks so different from a wolf, yet has the same bones.
Section 2
Environment Sculpts the Form
Evolution modifies the form to fit the function required by the environment. The environment acts as a sculptor.
It takes the clay (the inherited ancestral body plan) and reshapes it to survive in a specific habitat. But it never throws the clay away—the core material (skeletal structure) remains the same.
Book overview
Jump across lessons in the current chapter without opening the full course modal.
Continue this chapter