Life on Earth Worksheet Essay Example

pair of long, pointed tusk-like upper incisors -In males, the testes are permanently abdominal -thick, wrinkled skin -Females have two teats, one under each flipper -teeth growing at the rear are continuously replaced throughout life Now to the science - Follow the link below to read about some of the extinct relatives of elephants http://palace.

Ugly. Brisk. AC. K/Falsifies/Elephants/presentations.

HTML elephants?

The ancient proboscises differ from those of extant elephants because they have multiple pairs of molars and premolars, they do not possess tusks, and they retain canines on the upper Jaw. 7. Based on the information in the web-site, where did the early proboscises evolve? The early proboscises evolved from Africa. More derived proboscises (not ancient, but not extant either) also had a very different geographic distribution than elephants today: http://palace. Ugly. Brisk.

AC. UK/Falsifies/Elephants/extinct_tax. HTML http:// palace. Ugly. Brisk. AC.

UK/Falsifies/Elephants/mammoths. HTML 8. Which localities seem most surprising and why? North and South America because these locations were once abundant with these animals, such as mastodons, while having most of the animals originate from the other side of the world. 9. Identify 4 contemporaries that are shared between ALL of these extinct and extant tax. 1.

Tusks 2. Incisors and molar teeth 3. Trunk 4. Four column-like legs Molecular phylogeny In extant species, relationships can also be reconstructed based on DNA Think back o your best guesses of the closest EXTANT relatives of the modern elephants.

Look at the .

PDF named "Frothier". The phylogeny described in this paper is based on molecular data (similarities in DNA sequences) 10. Based on that phylogeny, write in the sister taxation (taxation A) to Proboscises. Give

the formal name. 11. Write in the taxation (taxation B) that is sister to the Claude composed of (Proboscises + Taxation A).

Give formal name Taxation B or Taxation A Proboscises Hardcore 12. Perform an internet search for these two tax and find out their common names. What are their common names? Describe each. The common name for Sirens is Sea Cow.

Sea cows are fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that appear fat.

They have forelimbs used for steering and a tail used for paddling. The common name for Hardcore are harasses. Harasses are well-furred animals with short tails and have poor internal temperature regulation. What was your thought/reaction upon discovering what these creatures are? My thought reaction was how can animals that look nothing alike be similar to an elephant if they visually look different. Believe it or not, there are morphological (phenotypes) similarities as well as dietary ND behavioral similarities between all of these tax.

BEFORE molecular data was available, scientists already suspected that these groups were closely related. The DNA evidence only helped to confirm the relationships. We'll do more on that in a moment. Of your modern tax and the elephants: (be specific! ) Animal #1 name Rock Harasses Rock Harasses are furry and have the soles of the feet with large, soft pads that are kept moist. Manatees have paddle like flippers and a snout.

Animal #2 name 14. Which of the features you listed are more likely to survive in the fossil record? Explain why.

Most likely to survive in the fossil record is the snout because it consists of the bones of the Jaw which are very good for

becoming fossils. 15. Which are less likely? Explain why. Less likely are the fur, soft pads at the feet, and the paddle-like flippers because all are more prone to decay rapidly because of being soft structures.

The flippers are also more prone to not preserving quickly therefore eaten or broken down by aerobic microbes. Now for molecules: To see the actual molecular data used to create the phylogeny you saw, select the . PDF named "mammoth and sea cow'. 16.

Go to page 409.

Dots mean the base pair (A, C, T or G) is the same as is listed in the taxation that's at the top (this saves ink! ). Now compare the sequences for the African elephant and the Asian elephant in Just the top row of page 409. How many molecular differences do you see in the sequence shown? There are 8 molecular difference in the sequence. How many molecular differences do you count between the African elephant and the Harry? 17.

Based on anatomy alone (without the molecular evidence), would you have guessed that the animals in photos above represented the closest living relatives of elephant?

Why or why not? Honestly, based on the anatomy alone, I would not have guessed that the animals represent close relatives of the elephants because of the physical anatomical characteristic they have. Most animals can have similar anatomy with slight differences that contribute to their survival in an environment. Initially, I thought that the animals had similar characteristics only because of natural selection and adaptation of their environment not because of their common ancestor. This shows how molecular evidence can really help in seeing what

animals belong in what lineages.