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From Water To Land - College Term Papers

From Water To Land

The early tetrapods were the first vertebrates to actually walk the solid earth. They began their conquest of land in the Paleozoic era around 360 million years ago. The question many paleontologists have been asking for a long period of time is whether the anatomy for locomotion on land was developed in water for swimming purposes, or if it was adapted after the creatures became terrestrial. Recent findings of fossils indicate that the transformations of the aquatic creatures happened underwater in order to help them survive in the changing world. When looking for answers, they had to examine forearm, hip, wrist, finger, and other bones, as well as the lungs or gills of the early tetrapod ...

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from its terrestrial relatives. These creatures still lived in water, but they had a lot of the terrestrial tetrapod anatomical characteristics.

Introduction:

Before tetrapods existed, all vertebrates were confined to living in aquatic habitats. The only animals that lived on land were arthropods. Through natural adaptations, the fish developed into amphibians. This colossal stage of change made necessary the evolution of new ways of breathing, locomotion, and reproduction. Paleontologists needed to understand how this transition took place. If the changes in anatomy of the fish developed on land, then they served the same purposes they serve today, such as walking. But what advantages would those same body parts give to the aquatic creatures still living in water? This is one of the questions the scientists are asking themselves. There have been a few hypotheses on this matter. The most recent one states that the transformations of the aquatic creatures happened underwater in ...

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From Water To Land. (2005, July 1). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/From-Water-To-Land/29367

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/1/2005 01:09:44 PM
Category: Science & Nature
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1191
Pages: 5

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