Unsolved mysteries of evolution haunt humanity until now. But many of its stages have not yet been fully studied. Who were our mysterious ancestors? What is the transition from animals to modern man? Read about this and much more below.
How did the whales get into the ocean?
Scientists have found that whales in their modern form have ancestors among warm-blooded mammals of the late Paleozoic. How did they get into the ocean, and what is the reason for such an unusual evolutionary reversal? This riddle has not yet been answered.
Humpback Whale Songs
Their beautiful and amazing melodies are considered to be some of the enchanting sounds of the sea. How and why they appeared is still unknown to scientists.
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The impetus for the study of this mechanism was the completely new sounds that were recorded in 2015 from humpback whales on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Their rhythm was so low that the human ear perceives it as the rhythm of a heartbeat through a stethoscope.
Life cycle of cicadas
The mysteriousness of the life cycles of these insects is incomparable with some other animals. Some species come to the surface to produce offspring, spending up to 17 years in the earth. Biologists are surprised how they manage to synchronize their mating cycle with that of other species.
Elephants without tusks
Researchers are struck by the fact that in modern times, many elephants on the African continent do not have tusks from birth. Presumably, there is a connection with mass poaching for the sake of this jewel, which leads to the destruction of the wild population of these amazing animals. In other words, it serves as a kind of protection of individuals from imminent death.
But how will the adaptation of new generations in the environment go? After all, these vital adaptations serve to protect the individual and get food.
Who were the ancestors of eucritte?
This is still unknown. Such small bizarre vertebrates were found in 1998 in the lands of Scotland. Their age is 350 million years. As reptiles, these four-legged creatures possessed some of the biological characteristics of amphibians. It was not possible to trace the evolutionary line of this type of animals. According to some experts, perhaps this is the primary true amphibian.
This is what eucritte is supposed to look like.
How did animal speech come about?
Discussions on this topic do not stop. It is not possible to determine the circumstances and the specific place of origin of the language of people. Some researchers have suggested that the gestures and sounds of our early ancestors were borrowed from animals. And with the complication of brain activity in ancient man, they gradually transformed into speech.
Riddles of abiogenesis
It is based on the theory of the origin of life from inanimate matter. Long-term studies at the junction of many sciences have not given a concrete answer to the question: "How did inanimate matter become living matter?"
Ancient feathered raptor
Archeopteryx fossils were found in 1861. On the basis of Darwin's theory, it was recognized as a bird. But all subsequent work refuted this claim. Most likely, this Jurassic beast was still a dinosaur, since birds appeared on earth at a later date. And some scientists even attribute it to a dead-end branch of development.
When and why did the snakes' legs disappear?
This mysterious story has no clue. For many years it was believed that they disappeared as unnecessary in the depths of the sea. But a closer study of the fossilized remains suggested that this happened at the moment when the ancient lizards began to hide in burrows. What and when gave rise to this need is unknown.
Parthenogenesis
Such natural asexual reproduction is considered the norm for some species of plant flora, as well as for a number of animals related to vertebrates and invertebrates. The theoretical substantiation of this form of reproduction of offspring is the extension of the genus even without a male carrier of the genotype.
Recent research has uncovered this ability in male snakes, which baffles science.
Australopithecus sediba
The remains of several of our ancestors were discovered by scientists in South Africa, in the Malapa cave complex (2008). The presence of complete skeletons helped scientists to identify in them the twofold features of primitiveness and progressive changes, directly indicating the formation of Homo erectus. But the structural features of the limbs do not allow Australopithecus to find the right step on the evolutionary ladder.
Yeti or Bigfoot
The legend about him has existed for centuries. In the twentieth century, he was even captured in a photograph. But instead of being clear, it sparked an even more heated debate. Experts do not deny that the existence of several species of hominids at the same time is quite possible, and after all, our family tree is very rich in surprises.
Literally in 2003, he was a Flores man, whose remains were found in Indonesia. This little dwarf is called the hobbit.
The giant panda puzzle
The most popular bear in the world, from the sight of which both children and adults are touched, is also full of mysteries. Scientists are wondering how this lazy vegetarian, who only does what he sits in one place and eats, managed not only to survive, but also to successfully overcome all stages of millennial evolution?
The reasons for the rapid development of the human brain
Just some 2 million years ago, the volume and organization of the brain in the ancestors of modern humans were at the level of modern monkeys. But an unknown impetus gave him such a rapid development that, returning 160 thousand years into the depths of the centuries, we will see a hominid almost as developed as we are. What is the reason for such impetuosity? Scientists are still wondering about this question.
Longevity of the Seychelles turtles
Jonathan from Seychelles is a huge turtle that celebrated its 186th birthday in 2017. What is the reason for such a long life of some animals? Scientists from many countries are fighting over this solution.
A number of researchers are inclined to think about slow metabolic processes. But the controversy on this topic does not subside to this day.
Prehistoric migrations
Accurate data suggest several migratory exoduses of hominids. The first one 1.8 million years ago was made by Homo Erectus. One million years later, the ancestors of the Neanderthal man came to Europe, and Homo Sapiens mastered the Middle East only 125 thousand years before our time. In theory, this is due to climatic problems. In practice, no one knows.
Evolutionary processes are endless in time. The origin and development of life on planet Earth went on for tens of millions of years. But in the modern world there are still a lot of unknowns.
Zhanna Lyubarskaya