Here Lizard Lizard Essay -- essays research papers fc

How the ophidian Lost Its LegsIn the article "How the Snake Lost Its Legs," Carl Zimmer wrote about the common theory of snake maturation is about to be questioned. All vertebrates that live on land whether mammalian or reptilian are known as tetrapods. In almost animals these feet evolved into other limbs, like arms for humans and into wings for birds however, the snake befuddled its four feet altogether. The only sign that snakes ever had four feet is a be hip located within the rib cage. Paleontologists and herpetologists alike find it hard-fought to retrace the ancestry of snakes. Because of their scales, eggs, and subtle features of the skull, some scientists believe that snakes are posterity of lizards. However, this still does not explain how snakes lost their legs. In 1970, a three-foot-long creature, Pachyrachis Problematicus, was discover near Jerusalem. A Hebrew University herpetologist studied the fossil and suggested that even though the animal looked se rpentine there was not enough evidence encouraging the theory that it was related to snakes. In 1996, Michael Lee and Michael Caldwell studied the fossil more than thoroughly. Lee stated that "The first thing that youve got to do is look at every possible animal it could be related to", he and Caldwell conclude that the Pachyrachis had many snake like characteristics.(Zimmer p.32) For example, "the body is long and sinuous it has cxl vertebrae in its trunk most lizards have just 25.&q...