Life appeared on Earth from 4.1 billion years ago, and despite "natural selection, survival of the fittest", countless species have regrettably withdrawn from the stage of history. However, there are still some species that have escaped the flood years for hundreds of millions of years, eliminated countless natural enemies, and still maintained their old appearance and survived the world safely. Why do these species live for hundreds of millions of years and would not go extinct without evolution? Maybe this year's Cantonese people are too bad...
Producer: Popular Science China
Production: Ko took a pu yu qing
Producer: Computer Network Information Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Life appeared on Earth 4.1 billion years ago, and species large and small have appeared one after another. However, "natural selection, survival of the fittest", countless species have regrettably withdrawn from the stage of history. However, there are still some species that have hardly changed their body structure for hundreds of millions of years, and are always on the starting line of evolution, and they are called "living fossils" (that is, hundreds of millions of years old, still the same).
National treasures giant pandas, "living fossils" Yangtze crocodiles in the water, baby fish, Chinese sturgeon, these are familiar to everyone, of course, do not need to introduce, let's make a difference.
(The above images are from Wikipedia and veer gallery)
Living fossils in mammals
Aardvarks – I am born ugly and useful
The aardvark, also known as ant bears or native pigs, lives only in sub-Saharan Africa, has no close relatives, is a completely unique class of mammals, and is the only extant species of the tubopod aardvara family, belonging to the genus Aardvark, is a relict organism. It reproduces better than many animals because it has evolved into a termite-eating machine and has established a good mutually beneficial relationship with a plant called aardvark melon. When there is a lack of water, the aardvark will dig up this fruit to eat, and after eating it, it will excrete the undigested seeds through excretion. The aardvark buries the feces in the dirt and "grows" some melon seeds so that they can continue to eat next time.
The newborn aardvark has a mouth similar to a pig', ears like a mule, pink skin and wrinkles, and is surprisingly ugly, comparable to The Elf Dobby in Harry Potter. Some people say, will it be better to grow hair when you grow up? However, it is still ugly and ugly. Don't look ugly, his ears and nose can have important uses, the downwind ear can be close to the ground to listen to the sound to determine the position of the termite, the nose is used to arch the termite's burrow.
(Image from Wikipedia)
Possum - timid as a mouse, witty as me
The possum is mainly produced in Latin America and has traveled a long way on Earth for 70 million years. In the mid-to-late Pliocene, about 3 million years ago, possums came from South America to the North American continent and have bred to this day, making it the only successfully settled marsupial on the North American continent! The hair on its body was dark gray-brown, the hair on its face was white, and it had a long tail that didn't have a single hair.
Possums have many natural enemies, but with their super high escape skills, possums can survive on Earth for so long. Chased by long-term predators, the possum trained a unique trick - caught off guard: what to do when it looks like it is about to be chased by the enemy? The possum will make an emergency brake in the middle of the madness and suddenly stand still. Usually at this time, the natural enemy is busy and hurried to stop, and when the enemy is blindfolded, the possum suddenly rushes to escape. This clever trick also won the name of the "brake master" in the animal kingdom. Another clever trick - to cover people's eyes: when there is a predator can not run, can not fight what to do, there is a trick to pretend to die, the possum opened its mouth to spit out its tongue, the eyes are tightly closed, the belly is bulging, the body is still shaking violently, and finally the breathing and heartbeat are stopped, and the body temperature has dropped a lot, as if dead. The predator still did not believe it, so I discharged a foul-smelling liquid from the stinky gland next to the anus, convincing the enemy that he was not only dead, but also decomposed. I don't believe you can still take a bite. Don't forget that I am suspended, oh, when the enemy is gone, I will come back to life, but at most I can fit for 6 hours. The "brain quotient" of possums (that is, the ratio of brain weight to body weight) originally belongs to the lowest handful of marsupials, and in order to survive, it is really difficult for them to spend 70 million years to summarize the "magic trick".
Shrew Deer - Forest Elves
Shrew deer, also known as small shrew deer, are a group of deer and camels. Such a cute little weasel is the smallest ungulate, only the size of a rabbit, about the weight of a chicken. It retains many of the original characteristics of deer, and its stomach has 3 chambers, most likely the ancestors of today's ruminants. The ancestors of today's shrew deer are ancient shrew deer, which appeared in the Late Eocene. So small, so the general activity is very cautious, only after the morning and dusk to come out to forage, during the day generally find a place to sleep. Don't look at it, it looks docile, but it has two fangs hidden in its mouth, which can be used as both foraging and weapons. The weasel also has a stealth skill, diving, and can hold its breath underwater for more than 4 minutes to avoid predators
Tapir – Who am I? Where am I from?
The tapir (pronounced with me, desert) is a very rare ancient animal. After the Pleistocene, although both saber-toothed tigers and mammoths were extinct, tapirs survived miraculously. There are two kinds of tapirs, the African tapir and the Asian tapir, the rarest of which is the Asian tapir, which lives in the deep mountain jungles of The Qin, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries. The reason why it is called five is because its nose resembles an elephant, not an elephant; The ears are rhinoceros, not rhinoceros; Tail like a cow, not a cow; Foot like a tiger, not a tiger; Bear-like, non-bear; But its entire body is closer to that of a bear, feeding most of the time on bamboo, as well as branches and leaves.
Although it is fat, it is more agile than most dogs. They live in pairs for many years in forests close to water, and although the individuals are large, they are very timid. The tapir's nose is an "early warning system" that escapes from the water whenever the wind blows, or hides its body in the water and only sticks its nose out of the water to breathe. In addition, they are afraid of heat and often use water to cool down, so they rarely leave the place where there is water.
Tapirs are strangely shaped and even ugly, but our ancestors saw it as an auspicious beast. People believe that it can eat nightmares and drive away ghosts and gods, so its image is often engraved on screens or columns, and its image often appears in the embroidery on pillows. The economic value of tapirs is very high, can be described as a treasure, so it is often hunted by humans, coupled with human exploitation of forests and deteriorating environmental pollution, so that the living conditions of tapirs are getting worse and worse. But can you think of no? In the last century, German colonists used tapirs to plow the land.
Living fossils of amphibians and fish:
Purple frog – I am me, a different kind of firework
The most prominent part of the purple frog is the pointed mouth, which is very similar to that of a pig, and the whole body is bright purple, looking like a plump plum. And his cries were also strange, not croaking, but clucking, like chickens. It is one of the frog family members living only in the Seychelles. They live most of the time at a depth of four metres and are only active on the ground for two weeks of the rainy season. So it wasn't until 2003 that it was discovered by scientists in western India. DNA analysis showed that the frog belonged to a branch of a special frog that lived during the ancient dinosaur period and was a "living fossil". Its most recent relative is the "sooglossids" frog that lives in the Seychelles archipelagos of the Indian Ocean.
Arowana – not just blending oil
Arowana has existed since the ancient Carboniferous Period, more than 300 million years ago. Because of its majestic appearance, long and whiskered body, scales with metallic luster, good at jumping out of the water and high to prey on small insects, resembling the dragon in Chinese mythology, it is commonly known as the dragon fish. Hong Kong calls it the "Dragon Spit Ball" (龙吐珠). The ancient Chinese people already had records about the dragon fish, according to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas, Overseas West Classic": "The dragon fish tomb lives in its north, like a fox." A [fish segment]. That is, there are divine multiplications to do the nine wildernesses. It can be seen that as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancient Chinese people had already discovered this fish species in the South China Sea in the East China Sea. Malaysian Arowana was originally a food fish in the local area, and in 1972 a fishing shop in Kuala Lumpur displayed the fish in the store, and because of the golden scales, it was named "Arowana". The Arowana cooking oil we eat now is based on the Arowana as the brand image.
Coelacanth – have you ever seen a fish on a tree?
Coelacanth is a fish with "legs". Also known as "empty spiny fish" because of the hollow spine. The body is thick and mucous, and the fins are limb-like, flexible, and brightly colored, easy to distinguish. First appeared 377 million years ago, the coelacanth was once prosperous and was the fiercest predator of its time. Coelacanths can not only breathe air, but also use their fins to walk as feet, which is important evidence of the evolution of fish into amphibians.
In the Devonian era, 400 million years ago, the ancestors of coelacanths climbed onto land with strong fins. After a period of struggle, one of them became more and more adapted to life on land and became a true quadruped; while the other, frustrated on land, returned to the sea and found a quiet corner in the ocean, saying goodbye to the land once and for all. The coelacanth is known as the "living fossil of the dinosaur era", and it is also a transitional type of fish evolution into amphibians, and is a transitional "bridge" for animals from "aquatic" to "terrestrial".
Lungfish – our ancestors were fish?!
Queensland lungfish is a kind of freshwater fish similar to coelacanth fish, lungfish is an ancient animal with a similar history to the total finfish, it appeared in the Early Devonian Period, not only can breathe with gills like other fish, but also has a special ability - breathing by the lungs, so it is called lungfish. Lungfish mostly live in sparsely populated swampy areas, and once the water quality of the habitat changes or the swamp dries up, their lungs come in handy, and the lungfish hide themselves in the silt, cleverly construct mud houses in the silt, and only open a breathing hole in the corresponding place. A few months later, the rainy season came and the lungfish returned to the water. For hundreds of millions of years, lungfish have survived the heat by building mud houses.
Scientists have made surprising discoveries when studying the formation of lungfish bones, which are very similar to the formation of early human limbs. The closest thing that leaves the body is a bone, then two bones, and at the top of the bone there are many small branches, which extend outward to form what we call fins, and the bones of the fins look like human fingers or toe bones. The biggest controversy over lungfish and coelacanth is who is the ancestor of our vertebrates. Although the lungfish became a strong contender for the ancestors of land vertebrates with its lungs, the controversy continues to this day, and the scientific community is still inconclusive.
Sea Lily – Send you a little yellow flower
Sea lily, finally introducing a plant-like animal, is the oldest species of echinoderms, living in the sea, first appearing in the early Ordovician period, about 480 million years ago. Sea lilies have many brachiopods, a flower-shaped body, and a calcareous shell on the surface, and because they look like plants, people have given them such a beautiful name. The body of the sea lily has a stalk like a plant stem, and the pinnate thing at the upper end of the stem is their tentacles, also called "wrists". These tentacles confuse people like fern leaves—thinking they're plants. Sea lilies are typical filter eaters, with their wrists held high when preying, and plankton or other suspended organic matter is captured by the tube foot and sent into a step groove, where it is then wrapped in a sticky mouth.
After seeing so many wonderful animals, we wonder why living fossil species have undergone so long and almost no changes. The main reason is that they live in relatively isolated areas, have fewer predators and competitors, and have less pressure to live, so they have no motivation to evolve, so they stay the same. But they escaped the flood years, eliminated countless natural enemies, but were powerless to do anything about the destruction of the living environment caused by human activities. Today, many living fossils have become endangered animals, and I hope that our human activities will not be a stumbling block to their survival.