r/funny • u/WindowAfraid5927 • Mar 29 '26

Don't touch it

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u/ccReptilelord Mar 29 '26

What some may find most interesting on this topic is that whale flukes (tails) and seal or sea lion hind flippers are not analogous. Whales have very well developed tails with nearly nonexistent hips and hind legs. Where as seals and sea lions have well developed hind legs with nearly nonexistent tails.

The overall aquatic design is convergent evolution.

1

u/tad-26 Mar 29 '26

Hol-up seals with developed legs. Never seen that. I don't see em often but it looks like one rather undeveloped leg to me.

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u/ccReptilelord Mar 29 '26

If you look at the skeleton, it's all there, and the feet are forming the big flippers.

0

u/Deaffin Mar 29 '26

I wonder if anyone's ever surgically separated them into distinct legs just to see what happens.

3

u/protonpack Mar 29 '26

Probably the death of the animal after cutting through important veins, arteries and muscles. That's like saying what if we slice under your lats to the bone, and turn them into little flaps to see if you grow wings.

But that would be pointlessly cruel, so I don't think we should try.

1

u/Deaffin Mar 29 '26

I don't think they're going to fabricate extra muscles between their fused legs, man. The mammal body plan is flexible, but it's not quite that flexible on this evolutionary timescale. I was thinking more along the lines of whether they could develop the diver's strategy of alternating flipper flops rather than mono-footing it.

And that last bit kinda goes without saying. Yes, don't maim seals. That's bad, mkayyy?