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A single genetic tweak caused human ancestors to lose their tails 25 million years ago — but it came at a cost
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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It came at the cost of having no tail!
I’ve always wanted a prehensile tail. Maybe CRISPR can make that happen someday 😜
On a more serious note, it really bothers me when evolutionary biology articles say “this must have some advantage”, because that’s simply not how evolution works.
A trait can be absolute dogshit and still get passed around even with no advantage. It just depends how big the population is in the first place and how deadly the trait is. If it’s mostly benign, and the founding population isn’t huge, it’s going to persist regardless of usefulness. Especially if it’s a dominant expression.
With my luck, mine would probably be a just as attractive and just as useful as a pinky toe