I read an interesting story in the Science section of the NY Times this morning. It seems that Heather King (a biologist at the University of Chicago) and her team observed a few African Lungfish taking alternating steps with their back fins.
Can you image the fish pictured above, with those tiny back legs, hopping along a muddy riverbank? Of course not. Those appendages look like something from the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But… once upon a time, all animals lived in the water. According to these guys, and smart biologists everywhere, this was as recent as about 400 million years ago.
Why is this significant? The first animals to poop on land and eventually build space shuttles and particle accelerators, were likely very similar to the guy pictured above. Speaking of that, I’ve often wondered why these lobe-finned fish decided to leave the comforts of their oceans and boggy marshes. Probably a combination of the water becoming less oxygenated, or drying up, or the fact that there just weren’t enough good restaurants in their neighborhood. I’m sure they were disappointed to learn they were the first inhabitants of this new dry land and no one up here had invented restaurants yet. Continue reading »




