Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
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Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#2[deleted]
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#3Some do, but get corrective surgery as babies.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#4They buried the lede:
Even if the driving mutation identified in the study could be undone, “it still wouldn’t bring back the tail.”
Oh well.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#5A tail is grabbable.
I'd think in primate fighting, a tail would be big negative. It could be grabbed.
Can you imagine Chimp fights if they had tails that could be held on to and the owner dragged around.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#6Some do, but get corrective surgery as babies.
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Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#7A tail is grabbable. I'd think in primate fighting, a tail would be big negative. It could be grabbed. Can you imagine Chimp fights if they had tails that could be held on to and the owner dragged around.
The problem might be size, lots of smaller primates have tails which can be very useful as a fifth arm for holding onto branches. As you get larger, tree foraging becomes less viable and the tail less useful and it would need to be oversized to be able to function properly.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#8A tail is grabbable. I'd think in primate fighting, a tail would be big negative. It could be grabbed. Can you imagine Chimp fights if they had tails that could be held on to and the owner dragged around.
The problem might be size, lots of smaller primates have tails which can be very useful as a fifth arm for holding onto branches. As you get larger, tree foraging becomes less viable and the tail less useful and it would need to be oversized to be able to function properly.
This seems like one of the times I can mention that dolphins and elephants have evolved prehensile penises. Sometimes nature finds a way.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#9They buried the lede: Even if the driving mutation identified in the study could be undone, “it still wouldn’t bring back the tail.” Oh well.
So I’m guessing this is less like, “we found the flag that toggles tail production” and more “we found a chunk of code that belongs to tail production”?
The first bit of the article sure makes it sound like this DNA is what does it all.
Re: Scientists have traced human tail loss to a short sequence of genetic code
#10[deleted]