Thursday, December 6, 2007

Really? We came out of the sea?

The Informed Reader (B8) scoops the Dec. 8 New Scientist. It appears that we have yet another evolutionary cousin...

Do dolphins have culture?

A pair of scientists say new findings that document male Amazon river dolphins carrying objects such as weeds or sticks in a bid to lure female mates is evidence of behavior once believed to be exclusive to primates.

While definitions of culture among animals vary, scientists generally label culture as behavior spread through social learning rather than by genes or ecology. Object-carrying by dolphins suggests a form of sexual display normally found only in humans and chimps, says Tony Martin, one of the scientists who studied river dolphins in the Brazilian Amazon.

Well, what did you expect? Either it's common ancestry or a common Designer.

3 comments:

Wes Messamore said...

My only problem comes when folks take an observation such as this one, give common ancestry as an explanation, and then confuse the observation itself with evidence for the truth of their explanation.

MathewK said...

On a lighter note, i often tell people the following when they talk about the sea and wanting to go sailing and frolicking around in the water but are a bit scared of sharks and what not.

Suppose we really did waffle out of the sea millions of years ago, think about it, fish can't survive out of water, but all those years ago they decided things were so bad and they've had enough of the sea and jumped out. They must have left for good reason, now you want to go back in there, what the hell is wrong with you!!!

Hannah said...

MK - LOL!

W. E. Messamore - I can't stand it either. One might respond with the car analogy. Are all of today's current models descended from the Model T? Or are they designed with the same overall plan?