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This web site provides digital photographs of the pelvic bones of several different species of whales, dolphins and porpoise. In modern whales, the pelvic girdle is much smaller than in land living mammals, but there is a considerable variation among species. Another common (and frequently misunderstood) example is the appendix. However, in the Fin Whale, the Blue Whale, and the Humpback, the femur too is present near the pelvis. When you look at the skeleton of a whale, halfway along it's tail on it's spine you see it: A pointless little pelvic bone just sitting there for animal that has no legs. A paper in the journal Evolution reports that rather than being a useless reminder of the evolutionary past, when whale ancestor Pakicetus strode the land on all fours, they in fact serve an unquestionably important purpose. The scientists also found that as whales evolved to become more promiscuous, their pelvic bones changed shape. Few animal traits are trotted out as illustrations of evolution as often as the whale’s supposed vestigial hip bones. It's unclear at this time exactly why the pod of pilot whales chose now to return to a place they'd seemingly left behind long ago. The pelvic bones of whales are “one of the classic examples of a vestigial structure,” said Otárola-Castillo. In land vertebrates, like lizards, birds and mammals the pelvic bone's main function is to attach the legs to the spine. The use may be odd, or it may simply not be identified yet. So, the question becomes, why do humans have an appendix? A pod of pilot whales numbering about 50, including whale moms and calves, graced the waters off Dana Point, in Orange County, Calif. Whale Pelvic Bones Actually Do Have a Purpose (Hint: Sex) Once thought to be pointless and on the evolutionary fast track to disappearance, new research has given the whale pelvis bone a … The pelvic bones of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) offer a unique opportunity to test this hypothesis. In some species, such as whales, these limbs don't exist for the most part — although vestiges of them may remain. But researchers from University of Southern California and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) have upended that assumption. Among 9 independent species pairs for which both pelvic bones and rib bones could be analyzed, pelvic bone shape divergence (independent of size) was positively correlated with divergence in inferred mating system (p=0.008, r=0.81, Fig. I t’s hard to imagine what a dolphin or a whale needs a pelvic bone for. The pelvic bones of some cetaceans. Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) offer a unique opportunity to test this hypothesis: ... tend to evolve larger penises and pelvic bones compared to their body length, and (2) pelvic bone shape has diverged more in species pairs that have diverged in inferred mating system. As such, it made sense to Dean and Dines that the pelvic bones could affe… 1983 , 1994 ; Bajpai and Gingerich 1998 ; Gingerich 2003 ; Uhen 2007b , b , 2010 ). Here a mom and calf give ocean tourists a thrill. It is possible that some vestigial organ is functionless, but scientists and biologists don't assume so dogmatically. The whales did not seem at all skittish about getting close to tour boats. Pelvic bone shape diverges more rapidly among species that have diverged in inferred mating system. Similar homologies exist for snakes and legless lizards. Male pilot whales can grow up to be 25 feet long and weigh around three tons. The muscles that control a cetacean's penis are attached to the creature's pelvic bones. This view from underwater captures the majesty of mother and child. They are referred to as pelvic bones because of the unresolved issue of labeling them vestiges, rudiments or remnants. The pelvic bones of whales are "one of the classic examples of a vestigial structure," said Otárola-Castillo. Whale sex: It's all in the hips New research turns a long-accepted evolutionary assumption on its head -- finding that far from being just vestigial, whale pelvic bones play a key role in reproduction If pelvic bone size were simply a reflection of overall skeletal size, there should be a corresponding correlation in the ribs – but there was not, strengthening the interpretation that whale pelvic bones are specifically targeted by selection related to mating system. Ambulocetus natans as it is called, is currently the eldest known saltwater cetacean, according to National Geographic, page 72, November 2001 "The Evolution of Whales". They get milk from their moms for nearly two years. The scientists argue in a paper just published in the journal Evolution that cetacean (whale and dolphin) pelvic bones certainly do have a purpose and that they're specifically targeted, by selection, for mating. Similarly, dolphins have been spotted with tiny pelvic fins, although they probably were not supported by limb bones as in those rare sperm whales. An example of such a structure is the pelvis of whales. Paul Souders/DigitalVision / Getty Images. ©2020 Group Nine Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. The researchers, who catalogued and 3D-scanned hundreds of skeletons, also showed that there is no correlation with rib size, so it is not just an issue of anatomic proportions but the result of a specific sexual selection strategy. In most animals, the pelvic bones are needed to be able to move the lower or rear set of limbs for the purpose of locomotion. Unfortunately whale hips have now gone the way of appendix. pelvic bones of minke whales from the Antarctic between males and females are. Austin Cline, a former regional director for the Council for Secular Humanism, writes and lectures extensively about atheism and agnosticism. How is Junk DNA Biochemical Evidence for Evolution? Whales and dolphins still have pelvis bones, left over from their ancestors' days as land-dwelling mammals. "The existence of a pair of small pelvic bones is known to exist in nearly all of the Cetacea, lying far apart from the vertebral column on both sides of the genital opening. How Biogeography Supports the Truth of Evolution, 5 Flawed Arguments for Intelligent Design, Basic Definitions of Macroevolution and Microevolution, Religious References on the Definition of Religion. If we notice the body plan of vertebrates, it would be noted that girdles are bones which allow limbs to get attached to the axial skeleton. Conventional thinking has long held that pelvic bones in whales and dolphins, evolutionary throwbacks to ancestors that once walked on land, are vestigial and will disappear millions of years from now. Found firsthand diving the Tar River in NC, I find Megalodon Shark Teeth around these bones so quite possible this whale died as the result of a shark attack. Reproduced with permission from Routledge, and may not be reproduced elsewhere without permission. PHOTOS: Sharks, Marine Mammals Hang in Paradise. When Dean and Dines compared the relative sizes of pelvic bones with testes, they found that the bigger the testes (relative to body size) the bigger the relative pelvic bones -- the competitive mating situation seemed to prompt the development of larger pelvic bones, making them not so useless after all. As a parallel, we are now learning that our appendix is actually quite important in several immune processes, not a functionally useless structure," said Dean in a press release. From E.J.Slijper, Whales, 2 fig. Then they gathered as much data as they could find -- reaching back to whaler days -- on whale testis size relative to body mass. The testis data was important because in nature, species in "promiscuous," competitive mating environments (where females mate with multiple males) develop larger testes, relative to their body mass, in order to outdo the competition. Pilot whale calves are born just under 5 feet long and will weigh in the neighborhood of 135 pounds. weaving ‘batons’, chopping-boards, ‘soft’ anvils, and much more), and even for architectural purposes such as large ribs used as roof rafters. Sure, the structure was important 40 million years ago, when the ancestors of these … Vestigial does not mean useless or nonfunctional because it is difficult if not impossible to prove that any particular structure is functionless. 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