Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Vestigiality/Exaptation



Take an evolutionary perspective and consider the appendix, it is commonly assumed to be a redundant or vestigial organ, yet it remains in the body as it has gained a new function, a harbour for friendly bacteria. Or consider feathers, originally highly developed reptilian scales used for temperature regulation, these became used for flight. What aspects of performance might we consider vestigial but find new functions for, or which features of performance might we normally overlook, that we can find surprising capacities. This shift in function is called exaptation.

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