Homologous and Analogous Traits

Homologous Traits:
Human’s and Dolphin possess the same Homologous trait... their hands and their fins!

                                                                                      

Many scientists in today’s news have branded dolphins as “highly intelligent” mammals. Also, if you have ever visited Sea World and experienced the routines and tricks they perform, you can attest to this! Humans, (being one) I would like to say we’re fairly smart and produce some of the smartest people to ever walk the planet: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking and many more!

The purpose of the dolphin fin is to swim under water, which is where Dolphins reside. On the other hand, us humans reside on land, and we use are hands and arms in more ways than just swimming! (although we do swim) We are able to use our phalanges, which gives us a huge advantage (if I may say so) over that of the dolphins… Imagine if they had exposed fingers to use! When comparing the bone structure from human to dolphin we can see the similarities… Both possess: phalanges, carpals, ulnas, radiuses and humerus.

If one goes far enough back, precisely around 95 million years, we will find the common ancestor to dolphins and humans.

Analogous Traits:

Beavers are the clever engineers of the woods. They are classified as a rodent, and are in fact the largest of the rodents! They are herbivores, preferring to eat bark, roots and aquatic plants and the two species can be found in the woods of North America, Europe and Asia. Beavers are also known for their very strong teeth, which are much needed when cutting down trees to build their homes. Unlike the Beaver, Platypus’s are bottom feeders eating anything from larvae, shellfish and worms, which they scoop up in the bill. Unfortunately they were not blessed with the strong teeth of the beaver, they have no teeth, and can only mash their food. Platypus’s are found in Australia and do contain one perk that beavers do not possess… poisonous venom found on the males in sharp stingers on the heels located on the rear feet.  

The beaver and the Platypus are two different species that share one very similar trait… Their tails!

The structure of the tails from both the beaver and the platypus are very similar. Both of these mammals use this to trait to their advantage; for beavers it’s for swimming and building their burrows and dams, for Platypuses it’s for the art of swimming and navigating smoothly under water. These traits evolved independently from one another, and they are of a different species; although the beaver uses his to build, they both use their tails to swim!

Platypus remains of what was believed to be a distant forebear of both the platypus and the echidna—the fossil species Teinolophos—"actually belong to an early platypus, according to scientists who performed an x-ray analysis of a Teinolophos jawbone." (National Geographic) Platypuses originate from the subclass prototheria, All prototherians laid eggs, as did their therapsid ancestors. The only prototherians surviving today are the duck billed platypus and the echidnas.

The beaver family, Castoridae, contains the two living species of beaver and their fossil relatives. But the earliest ancestor that was recorded belonging to the beaver was known as Agnotocastor. Belonging to the sub class Theria, mammals who’s young’s are born alive (not in eggs).