Some things seem real simple if you don't examine them too closely.
Take the idea of complexity. Most people would consider things that have more moving
parts to be more complex. But maybe the concept isn't as clear as it might seem. It
can be argued that the skeleton of a bird's forelimb is more complex than that of,
say, a dog's front leg. Think of all the things a bird wing has to do in adjusting
to the rigors of flight compared to the relatively simple act of walking or running.
But to gain the degree of complex control desirable for flight, evolution has deleted
some bones and fused together others that are separate in the dog. Or look at the
horse, a running machine among the best! Certainly it has legs more complex than slower
creatures! Oops—once more, fewer moving parts. Only a single toe left on each foot,
evolved over millions of years from the far more complex five-toed foot of its distant
ancestors—or is it the SIMPLER five-toed foot of its distant ancestors?
Listen to the Audio (mp3 format) as recorded by KTEP, Public Radio for the Southwest.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.