Snake Threat May Have Spurred Evolution of Primate Eyes

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:53 PM EDT

Article Source: National Geographic

The ability to detect threatening snakes may have shaped the visual system of our primate ancestors, a new study says.

In a sort of evolutionary arms race, primates kept improving their eyesight to help spot and avoid snakes as the snakes became more dangerous, suggests Lynne Isbell, a behavioral ecologist at the University of California, Davis.

The initial change in primate [eyes] ... occurred when they had to deal with constricting snakes, probably about 90 million years ago, Isbell said.

That ended up with primates that have forward-facing eyes, whereas other mammals tend to have eyes on the sides of their heads. Forward-facing eyes allow better depth perception.

Published to:

Jason Coleman's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: none
Regions: none

Public Discussion (10)

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

4.8

0.9

{"commentId":247440,"authorDomain":"super-structure"}

Jason Coleman

I had to fight off the urge to rename this article Snakes on a Plain.

{"commentId":247440,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"super-structure"}

2 votes

#1 - Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:53 PM EDT

{"commentId":247446,"authorDomain":"HonkyTonk"}

HonkyTonk

Snakes on a Brain?

{"commentId":247446,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"HonkyTonk"}

1 vote

#2 - Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:59 PM EDT

{"commentId":247600,"authorDomain":"hodgie"}

K.Hodge

I think Ivan seeded this about 2 weeks ago. I meant to comment then i dont think i did though, I read somewhere that they think swimming may have been a large evolutionary driver, which kind of makes sense given the lack of hair. So instead of snakes, it could have been catching fish.

{"commentId":247600,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"hodgie"}

2 votes

#3 - Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:47 PM EDT

{"commentId":247718,"authorDomain":"super-structure"}

Jason Coleman

Leave it to Ivan to find so many great science stories and leave the crumbs to the rest of us. You'd think he was some sort of scientist or something… ;)

When you say lack of hair, do mean on reptiles or on us humans? A friend was telling me something to that effect about evolution on humans about three years ago, but I don't remember where he had picked up that information.

{"commentId":247718,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"super-structure"}

#3.1 - Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:42 PM EDT

{"commentId":248327,"authorDomain":"hodgie"}

K.Hodge

hahaha. yah i meant humans, not snakes. I'm not quite sure where i read that either, could have been a newscientist article, but for some reason i don't think it was. It definitely was a number of years ago though that I read it... strange.

I think the "this has already been seeded thing" is broken, a few times jsut recently i've found that either I seed something that has been seeded recently, or get seeded right after I've seeded it. (the one about the rice gene that allows rice to survive prolonged submersion got seeded twice right after I seeded it, once by Calvin Tang and once by Praetor, annoyingly both of theirs got more votes than mine haha)

{"commentId":248327,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"hodgie"}

#3.2 - Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:45 PM EDT

{"commentId":249398,"authorDomain":"super-structure"}

Jason Coleman

I've noticed some odd errors in the Doppelganger/what-not as well.

{"commentId":249398,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"super-structure"}

#3.3 - Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:34 PM EDT

{"commentId":248109,"authorDomain":"KevinR"}

KevinR

Maybe it was necessary for us to walk upright.

{"commentId":248109,"threadId":"36457","contentId":"321829","authorDomain":"KevinR"}

#4 - Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:11 PM EDT

{"commentId":249443,"authorDomain":"yar"}

yarDeleted

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"36457","isPrivate":false}

JASON COLEMAN

Backyard

Snake Threat May Have Spurred Evolution of Primate Eyes

The ability to detect threatening snakes may have shaped the visual system of our primate ancestors, a new study says.

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: