The oldest teeth are characterized by short open canals, which do not even reach a quarter of the length of the tooth
The day we started looking for order in the world is the day we became human. This sounds like an arbitrary statement, but finding the regular patterns, understanding the reason for everything, are what allow us to derive meaning from the world around us. This is also the craft and mission of every scientist: to understand. Simple, understand. The physicist tries to understand how the universe was created. The chemist tries to understand how life was created. And the biologist tries to understand how they evolved into what they are today.
The biologists' answer, for two hundred years or more, has been evolution: the gradual change of living things from generation to generation. Darwin understood one of the mechanisms controlling evolution, which is natural selection. But he conditioned the correctness of the theory with an important caveat: the presence of fossils that constitute 'intermediate vertebrae' - transitional stages in evolution.
From the days of Darwin to the present day, countless fossilized vertebrates have been discovered. Archaeologists have uncovered dozens of fossils of intermediate stages between the great ape and modern man. We traced the ancestors of the great blue whale, which looked more like a mongoose. We found the fossils of the dog-like parents of the horse. And only with the snakes did we get stuck.
Well, that's not accurate. We know quite a bit about the evolution of snakes. The python, for example, is one of the earliest snakes that split from the reptiles - and as such you can still find a degenerated hip pelvis, and even tiny non-functioning legs. We have good guesses about the evolutionary origin of snake venom, which contains enzymes that are also present in the digestive system and the immune system. That is, there was probably a redirection of the production of the enzymes injected into the snake's teeth. But one more mystery remains: how did the venom teeth develop?
This question is particularly difficult because to date no fossils have been found showing the evolution of venom teeth. The modern snake injects the venom through a channel that runs through the tooth and opens at the tip. The fossils of the earliest reptiles known to us already exist with a similar canal along the tooth, except for the fact that it is an open canal downstream of the venom. Until now, archaeologists have not been able to get their hands on fossils that demonstrate the gradual evolution of venom teeth.
So far.
At the beginning of November, a new study was published that examines the fossilized teeth of ancient reptiles, whose age is estimated at two hundred million years before the Christian era, or 199,995,000 years before the creation of the Christian world, more or less. The oldest teeth are characterized by short open canals, which do not even reach a quarter of the length of the tooth. These canals are the original venom canals, which were the product of a random genetic mutation. They probably helped the snake, as they made it easier for the ancient venom to get closer to the prey. And so, over the millions of years since then, the canals have lengthened. The beautiful fossils reveal and show the story. The open canals became longer and longer, until in the most modern tooth the canal already reaches the end. At this stage it also closes and becomes a cavity inside the tooth that opens only at the tip. And this is how the snake's venom injection system reaches its most efficient form.
Except that there is a thorn in it - these ancient reptiles are not snakes. In fact, this beautiful series of fossils belongs to very different reptiles that have long been extinct. The cold, measured scientist shrugs his shoulders now. He knows that he cannot draw conclusions about the evolution of snakes from it. The biologist, enthusiastic and in a hurry to discover the secrets of existence, is happy with his fate. He is convinced that the process of evolution of snakes' teeth is similar to the evolution of the teeth of those reptiles, and hence we got a new piece of information about the puzzle of evolution. And the spirit man, examining the world through a kaleidoscope of sparkling information, smiles with satisfaction.
Another piece fell into place.
11 תגובות
9- You are right, I caught the error after I had already confirmed the response 🙂
to someone (3):
Examination of various toxins in the animal world (for example in spiders, fish, amphibians, snakes and even in a very small number of mammals) reveals that the same substances are remarkably similar to other substances already found in the same animals but used in a completely different function (usually in the digestive system). The glands that produce these toxins are similar in many respects to other auxiliary glands that secrete similar substances (just like the salivary glands that secrete into the oral cavity substances and enzymes that aid primary digestion). Teeth, which are used by animals to catch prey and usually also to injure it, are a very common "instrument" in the animal world, the advantage of which is clear even without venom. Given these two, that is, the existence of glands that secrete digestive substances or similar substances that are toxic, as well as the existence of teeth (or any other device) that injure the tissue of the prey, form a basis from which it is easy to understand how an increased secretion of substances that do not add health to the hunted victim will help the hunter obtain food Easier and with less risk of self-injury in the process. For example, the rattlesnake does not need a prolonged struggle with its prey (a struggle that can seriously endanger it). Komodo power (also known as the "Komodo dragon") is a giant lizard whose bite causes an extremely acute infection that leads to death mainly thanks to a cocktail of body fluids and an impressive variety of bacteria, the two species of helodrama mentioned earlier also use a winning combination of saliva especially contaminated with bacteria and various toxins that are secreted into the space The mouth and move to the prey using a rather primitive mechanism that includes pointed and simple teeth. The toxins that the haloderma secretes are all similar to each other in their chemical composition and are similar to natural enzymes in the digestive system and the blood sugar control system. As of this moment, the only scientific explanation for this similarity is the common origin of those materials.
To Jonathan (7):
The theory of relativity and quantum mechanics are the theories that give the best scientific explanation that exists as of this moment for a wide variety of phenomena. In your opinion, when a prediction emerges from them and an observation is received that matches the prediction, is it a mark of a target around the arrow?
S:
Jonathan has already proven in the past that he does not deserve a response.
His response here is also just nonsense.
I only responded because I wanted to tell you that they say "confirmed" and not "confirmed".
Jonathan, this article perfectly demonstrates exactly the opposite - the theory of evolution gave a prediction and the discovery agrees with the prediction, which confirms the theory.
The theory of evolution is basically marking the target around pressure. And this article demonstrates it well.
There is a venomous lizard that does not have a mechanism for injecting venom, it is called Hyloderma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster
It is possible that the ancient ancestors of snakes also used their venom in a similar way
Something else for someone:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-03/evolution%E2%80%99s-most-effective-killer-snake-venom
someone:
I don't know, but in my opinion the venom can help the snake in the hunt even when it is not injected using a special mechanism but only penetrates through the wound made by normal teeth.
Technically - the poison is probably an evolution of rock.
I would appreciate it if someone could answer a question:
According to my understanding, in the process of evolution if certain individuals have genetic mutations that give them an advantage, the number of these individuals will increase because of this advantage.
1. Regarding snakes - how did the production of poison begin in the first place if they did not have suitable teeth? After all, without poison and teeth in the first place, the mutation would not have given them an advantage.
I understand that in other cases a particular mutation will indeed give an advantage, but in this case I don't understand how the poison was created in the first place if there were no teeth to inject it?
No matter how many pieces of the puzzle are found and how much genetics research advances, a significant part of the population will still say that it is "not convincing enough" and that there must be some kind of creator behind all of this.
Why not upload the photos of these fossils?