very nice sche
going along with the equine themed queries........what is a chestnut? function?
i say ergots are vestigial toes
My chestnuts are located in a different spot.
Stop being so violativly stupid.
I can't help being bad; I'm drawn that way.
(Points for successful reference identification. No points for imagining me in such an outfit. Unless it turns your crank.)
AHA! I've just found a reason to move this to Bio and Genetics - which I will submit to Herc, and he will read, at some point.
IF the ergot is - as appears to be the classical view - vestigial, and if it also functions in scent release...is this not then a spandrel? I ask because of some of the bitching a few years ago about the existence of spandrels, by someone whom I cannot remember who. I'm taking up Gould's line here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology)
In Gould’s and Vbra’s (1982) theory of exaptation, exaptations were characteristics that enhance fitness in their present role but were not built for this role by natural selection and may be divided into two subcategories; preadaptation and spandrels. Spandrels are characteristics that did not originate by the direct action of natural selection and that were later co-opted for a current use. Gould saw the term to be optimally suited for evolutionary biology for “the concept of a nonadaptive architectural by-product of definite and necessary form – a structure of particular size and shape that then becomes available for later and secondary utility” (Gould 1997)
From the link posted by GeoffP
The evolutionary path of the horse is far from decided, so the above theory is as credible as any other as to the origin and purpose of the ergot in the horse.
Good post GeoffP, IMO.
In regard to the image posted by MacGyver1968
The primary function of the mammary glands one would expect to be for the nurturing of the offspring. To that purpose, the size of the gland is not necessarily indicative of the volume or quality of the milk potential.
The fascination, among some cultures, with this visual aspect of the female anatomy remains another mystery yet to be solved, lol....![]()
I have yet to see a comprehensive demonstration that women with bigger boobs have relatively bigger kids, although I'm willing to sample extensively to test it. Science needs to know.
PS: damn you, Mac.
Of course it wouldn't include surgically enhanced boobs! If we were discussing surgical enhancements, I'd be more interested in whether such boobs allowed women to capture older richer mates.