Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
I'm working on a video on the evidence for evolution and would love your feedback on the first draft. Some photos are currently missing as I'm waiting on researches to send them to me.
Please don't share this link around outside the forum as this is just a draft. I hope to have the final version done mid October.
Here it is: http://youtu.be/wnHrPHTe2hw
I'd love to answer any questions you may have on the content of this video. Please keep the conversation on topic.
Thanks
Jon
UPDATE: The final video is now up. We are discussing it in a new post. I am no longer following this one. Here's a link to the new post: http://www.theos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4956
Please don't share this link around outside the forum as this is just a draft. I hope to have the final version done mid October.
Here it is: http://youtu.be/wnHrPHTe2hw
I'd love to answer any questions you may have on the content of this video. Please keep the conversation on topic.
Thanks
Jon
UPDATE: The final video is now up. We are discussing it in a new post. I am no longer following this one. Here's a link to the new post: http://www.theos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4956
Last edited by jonperry on Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
[user account removed]
Last edited by dizerner on Sun Feb 19, 2023 1:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
Though the big picture of evolution is agreed upon by the scientific community, scientists are constantly discussing, investigating, and debating the difficult details of evolution. To see their discussions I recommend following Carl Zimmer on Facebook or Twitter. He works for national geographic and reports on those types of discussions and debates.
Here's a good relevant article of his on whales: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com ... hale-hips/
Here's a good relevant article of his on whales: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com ... hale-hips/
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
A very effective and attractive presentation, Jon.
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
Hi Jon,
I figured I’d share a few things that were going through my mind as I watched it since I, as a non-scientific expert, am presumably one or your intended audience.
-I was once again struck by how cool God’s creative process is.
-I was unaware of all the similarities between the hippo and the whale and found it interesting
-I like how you don’t overuse scientific language and keep it simple.
-I was perplexed that the hind leg of the whale was proposed as a device to scratch itself since it seemed too small to do much good on such a large mammal. Perhaps that’s why they lost it?
-I was also wondering, but hesitate to ask, how a hind leg would help in mating?
-On a side note, I’ve always thought dolphins were very cute looking creatures, I wasn’t expecting to find a dolphin fetus cute as well!
Overall, I think you stated the evidence quite clearly
Steve
I figured I’d share a few things that were going through my mind as I watched it since I, as a non-scientific expert, am presumably one or your intended audience.
-I was once again struck by how cool God’s creative process is.
-I was unaware of all the similarities between the hippo and the whale and found it interesting
-I like how you don’t overuse scientific language and keep it simple.
-I was perplexed that the hind leg of the whale was proposed as a device to scratch itself since it seemed too small to do much good on such a large mammal. Perhaps that’s why they lost it?
-I was also wondering, but hesitate to ask, how a hind leg would help in mating?
-On a side note, I’ve always thought dolphins were very cute looking creatures, I wasn’t expecting to find a dolphin fetus cute as well!
Overall, I think you stated the evidence quite clearly
Steve
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
Thanks for the feedback Steve and Steve.
The hind legs of Basilosaurid whales might have been stuck inside their flesh. We don't know for sure. Professor Gingerich who first discovered them proposed they may have been used to hold onto a mate during reproduction. Some whales today are very aggressive when the mood strikes and will bump males off of females to take their place. If a female were to lock feet with her chosen partner, she could ensure that he would be the father. The pelvis most mammals, including humans, hippos and whales, is attached the muscles of the male sex organs. Hope this isn't too much information but the legs bones, even if buried in the flesh, might have given him extra leverage.
As far as a scratching tool goes, Basilosaurus isis (not shown in the draft but will be shown in the final version) was extremely long and snake-like. The people who first discovered him actually thought he was a giant sea serpent. With a flexible spine, those legs could have reached just about any part of his body, most importantly the blowhole. Here's a photo of his skeleton fully reconstructed: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/paleonto ... y/bas1.jpg
If you look close at large whales today, you find they are plagued with giant mites that hide in the folds of their skin and blowhole. I don't know if it actually bothers the whales but it's extremely frustrating to see it when you get close to one and realize how miserable they must be with no way to pick them off.
Here's a photo of the mites hiding in the two blowholes and the muscle crease between the blowholes of a gray whale: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49211868@ ... otostream/
The hind legs of Basilosaurid whales might have been stuck inside their flesh. We don't know for sure. Professor Gingerich who first discovered them proposed they may have been used to hold onto a mate during reproduction. Some whales today are very aggressive when the mood strikes and will bump males off of females to take their place. If a female were to lock feet with her chosen partner, she could ensure that he would be the father. The pelvis most mammals, including humans, hippos and whales, is attached the muscles of the male sex organs. Hope this isn't too much information but the legs bones, even if buried in the flesh, might have given him extra leverage.
As far as a scratching tool goes, Basilosaurus isis (not shown in the draft but will be shown in the final version) was extremely long and snake-like. The people who first discovered him actually thought he was a giant sea serpent. With a flexible spine, those legs could have reached just about any part of his body, most importantly the blowhole. Here's a photo of his skeleton fully reconstructed: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/paleonto ... y/bas1.jpg
If you look close at large whales today, you find they are plagued with giant mites that hide in the folds of their skin and blowhole. I don't know if it actually bothers the whales but it's extremely frustrating to see it when you get close to one and realize how miserable they must be with no way to pick them off.
Here's a photo of the mites hiding in the two blowholes and the muscle crease between the blowholes of a gray whale: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49211868@ ... otostream/
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
Thanks, Jon!
Your writing is just as clear and easy to understand as your videos.
It makes sense what you're saying about flexibility. I don't know if that would have dawned on me even if the missing image had been included. Perhaps it would have.
BTW...as I was watching it I was looking forward to you discussing the last four lines of evidence. Are you planning to do this in a future video?
Your writing is just as clear and easy to understand as your videos.
It makes sense what you're saying about flexibility. I don't know if that would have dawned on me even if the missing image had been included. Perhaps it would have.
BTW...as I was watching it I was looking forward to you discussing the last four lines of evidence. Are you planning to do this in a future video?
Re: Evidence for Evolution (Animation Draft)
I do have a second video planned but won't get to in until the middle of next year. It will cover the second major claim of evolution "evolution is guided by natural processes". It will continue to use whales as an example and will go over the remaining lines of evidence.
There is one line of evidence I probably won't be talking about in either animation and that is "Species Distribution". This line of evidence deals with where animals and fossils are found geographically and where they are found throughout time. The reason I won't be talking about it in these videos is that modern whales have such large migration ranges that we can't glean much info on their evolution by looking at distribution.
I'll probably do an article on species distribution instead, explain why whale migrations mess up our data for this line of evidence, and give examples of animals where distribution does help us understand their history.
There is one line of evidence I probably won't be talking about in either animation and that is "Species Distribution". This line of evidence deals with where animals and fossils are found geographically and where they are found throughout time. The reason I won't be talking about it in these videos is that modern whales have such large migration ranges that we can't glean much info on their evolution by looking at distribution.
I'll probably do an article on species distribution instead, explain why whale migrations mess up our data for this line of evidence, and give examples of animals where distribution does help us understand their history.