Page 9 - Research 1.0
P. 9

Let's  take  the  example  of  the  Panda.  Bears  in  general  are
               omnivores, eating plant matter, but with a marked preference
               for  meat  when  available.  The  preferred  food  of  the  Panda
               however, is bamboo leaves, which have such low nutritional

               value that they must eat almost continuously. The Panda would
               certainly  be  able  to  extract  more  nutrition  with  a  four
               chambered stomach (as in ungulates and whales) or something
               akin to a cecal valve that would slow the passage of food,
               but  it  has  neither  in  its  genetic  toolbox.  In  feeding
               themselves, pandas are continuously stripping bamboo leaves
               from  their  stalks,  a  process  that  could  be  facilitated  if
               they had a thumb.


               Bears however do not have thumbs, nor do they have genes for
               them  in  their  genetic  toolbox.  Nor  do  new  features  simply
               spring into existence.  However, if a  slightly  altered  body
               component  provides  some  benefit,  natural  selection  will
               perpetuate  it.  Evolution  is  modification  with  descent  and
               results in incremental alterations to what is already there.


               As an analogy, imagine a robot gardener dragging a hose around
               various obstacles it encounters in a garden until it can go
               no further. Now an intelligent gardener could simply retrace
               his steps and take a different path, avoiding those obstacles.
               The  robot  gardener  (evolution)  is not  an intelligent force
               and  cannot  do  that.  With  a  limited  tool  kit,  it  can  only
               (figuratively) add more hose to get the job done.


               While a thumb would be quite useful to a panda for stripping
               leaves, evolution cannot rewind to produce one. Instead, it
               has taken "a piece of hose' (a wrist bone) and enlarged it to
               act as a stand in for a thumb. That is not an elegant solution
               and not a perfect one, but it gets the job done. Evolution is
               does not produce perfect solutions, but tweaks here and there
               to "get the job done". THAT is how evolution operates. The
               panda’s "thumb", developed over many generations of holding

               things, is clearly a co-opted “radial sesamoid” bone from the
               paw of a bear. Likewise, the 'Red Panda', a raccoon relative
               with a similar diet, has evolved a similar feature.
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