fortwynt wrote:well, whatever we may be referring to when we say "micro-evolution", it is certainly observed in the lab, in nature, but I do not agree that a+b=c in this case...i.e...just because we observe this type of thing in micro-organisms, to me does not lead naturally to suggest such things happen large scale...nor do i believe anything close to that has ever been observed.
While I'm aware Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, they had this to say on the matter:
During adaptation, some structures may lose their original function and become vestigial structures.[144] Such structures may have little or no function in a current species, yet have a clear function in ancestral species, or other closely related species. Examples include pseudogenes,[145] the non-functional remains of eyes in blind cave-dwelling fish,[146] wings in flightless birds,[147] and the presence of hip bones in whales and snakes.[139] Examples of vestigial structures in humans include wisdom teeth,[148] the coccyx,[144] and the vermiform appendix.[144]
All the sources they had posted for their claims weren't online sources, or else I'd have linked to them. Anyway. That was taken directly from wikipedia's page on
"Evolution"However, I was able to find this, which at least confirms, that modern finless porpoise has hip bones. Now, if evolution did not occur in larger organisms, then why would a porpoise have hips? They don't even have fins there.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1529 ... dinalpos=2Morphology of the modern cetaceans represents the results of adaptation of the ancestral terrestrial mammals to aquatic life through their evolutional processes. Some of the primitive fossil cetaceans are known to have both fore and hind limbs, whereas the pelvic bones of modern cetaceans are, in general, a pair of slender rod-like structures within the abdominal wall muscles just anterior to the anus with no articulations to the axial skeleton in both sexes. It is interesting and important to consider the causes and processes of how the hind limbs were lost and how the pelvis was reduced during the process of adaptation. In the present study, we tried to evaluate the topography and function of rudimentary pelvic bones of the finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides), one of the members of the odontocete cetaceans, with special references to the structures around the pelvic bones. Some soft tissues such as M. ischiocavernosus relating to the pelvic bone are transformed following the drastic reduction of the pelvis. This transformation tells us that the cetaceans adapted to the aquatic life during evolutional processes chose the tail flukes driven by the powerful trunk muscles for locomotion, instead of modifying the hind limbs into hind flippers as seen in pinnipeds. On the other hand, it is evident that a function of the pelvic bones of the male finless porpoise was supporting the penis as those of terrestrial mammals. It is noteworthy that the morphological features of the ancestral terrestrial mammals can be traced when they are carefully compared with those of the finless porpoise.
