Evolution of Elephants

Contrary to a common belief that mammoths, mastodons and other olden elephants lived during the time of dinosaurs, it was 65 zillion years ago that picayune mouse-like mammals buy the farmd the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event (in which dinosaurs became extinct) and it was these small creatures that the modern twenty-four hour period elephants evolutionary history can be traced pole to. therefore the inaugural base living creature that begins to resemble the elephants we know straight off didnt appear until five million years after the extinction of dinosaurs. Placental mammals or subclass Eutheria be the currently predominant form of terrestrial purport on earth and are a diverse group, encompassing nearly 4000 species according to some(prenominal) http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu and http://www.nhc.ed.ac.uk. The sister group of eutherian mammal mammals is Metatheria, which includes Marsupials (the uncreated difference being that placental mammals young dev elop to a relatively mature stage within a womb attached to the mother by a placenta.) Mammals, like marsupials, fake their young with milk and care for them until they can sufficiently fit on their own.

One of the four major divergences from this group Afrotheria (diagram 1) was the first to diverge from the other major groups of placental mammals and is now a unique group of placental mammals of which the elephant is the more or less(prenominal) studied and most visible species in many palm including ecology, behavior and genetics. diagram 1 (Demonstration of the evolution of elephants from the Afrotheri a group) Because of incompatible evoluti! onary pathway (shown in the above diagram) and diversions from other groups, elephants develop in subtly different ways from many other placental mammals. They are distinct from other placentals in having parts of the hips, the speeding arms, and the trunk vertebrae change state early whilst the neck vertebrae and fingers lapidify later. About one tertiary of the way through an elephants gestation period, ninety per centum of all skeletal elements have started...If you necessity to get a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

If you want to get a full essay, visit our page: cheap essay