Post by TheCreator on Dec 31, 2016 6:49:25 GMT
Many billion years ago, a small 4 legged creature roamed the ocean floor. This was just before the evolution of fin and jet propulsion, in a time when most organisms were limited to crawling across the sand-covered rock. Our creature was small and defenseless, but it was by no means at the bottom of the food chain. Its favorite food source was a tiny invertebrate protected in a disk-shaped shell, similar to the earthen sand dollar. Over many years, our cyclid-to-be developed a prolonged claw on its front right leg. This bony protrusion was excellent in piercing the shell of its prey, right through the very center, but it significantly lowered the organisms ability to move about freely and escape predators. This resulted in an asymmetric design, so that the creature would still have three at least three viable legs.
At this point, out organism remained practically unchanged for millions of years until eventually an interesting behavior evolved. After eating its meal, this first cyclid put its piercing claw completely through the hole in the center of the cylinder and grabbed onto it with its other hand. This adaptation quickly spread through the population. Although the organism still used its back legs to push itself forward, the wheel at its front was very energy efficient, and allowed the organism to half its energy expenditure while at the same time increasing its speed (no more unwieldy large front leg) much like a wheelbarrow.
Even more time went by and an abnormal creature was born. This one had a mutation in its hox genes for its front legs and ended up with two long spikes. Normally this mutation would cause an organism of this species to die—it could no longer put its claw through the center of a circular shell and its two legs made it very slow to walk otherwise; however, this behavior was deeply impeded in the organism’s brain and it instinctively needed to put its front legs through something (similar to how a pigeon locked in a dark room will always find the south corner and will scratch it trying to get out and fly to a warmer climate). When the creature finally managed to find a coin shaped organism on the floor (luckily, they didn’t have any legs and couldn’t run away, aside from burying into the ground), it made two holes, to the left and right of the center, and sucked out its insides. Then, it put both of its front legs into the empty shell. At this moment, this creature gained a tremendous advantage over the rest of its species. It no longer had to use its back legs to push; rather, it could turn its front legs in a circular motion, akin to the pedals of a bicycle, making it incredibly fast.
Many millions of years went by and the species evolved to move using only its front legs, almost as if it were riding a unicycle. Its back legs slowly moved upwards to where its shoulders used to be as its spine doubled over. The shoulder bones then dropped downwards to cover the sides of its front (which are now lower than the back) legs that held the wheel. Eventually this species hunting pattern changed slightly—it began using its spiky arms to pick up its food and then used its claws to craft holes. Then the organisms used their legs to clamp onto the shells. In fact, the spikes that previously grew out of the front legs of this animal became shorter and shorter (since their role became replaced with the claws growing from its hands) and eventually became short cylindrical in shape, a perfect fit for the holes in the disks/wheels.
Eventually, this species became so fast and good at hunting its prey that its numbers dramatically increased. Then came a point where the disk-shaped organism could no longer sustain the population of the cyclids (each cyclid needed around 1 disk every couple days). Normally, this would have caused the population of the cyclids to fall down, since they no longer have any food left, and the population of the disks to increase due to lack of predation. This would have created the nice sinusoidal graphs we often see in predator/prey ecosystems. Unfortunately, the cyclids adapted to also eat another shell-less descendant of the disks that lived on the ocean floor. As the disk-shaped organisms were hunted to extinction, there were less and less circular shells left for our cyclids to turn into wheels. This was horrible, since the cyclids evolved to be so reliant on their wheels, they couldn’t move without them. Their parents gave them their first wheels when they reached maturity who then switched them every month until death.
The species would have died out, or potentially de-evolved back into some viable quadruped or biped, but the urge to have wheels was strong. They had them for 100s of millions of years and their instincts told them that something was supposed to go between their legs, and if there was nothing there, they should use their hands to carve out a hole in something. This resulted in a new breed of cyclids that found circular shaped rocks (luckily, the cyclid population in question lived near the coast and the tides sanded down rocks nicely) and curved holes into them. The material was much strong than the calcium the shells were made out of and significant damage was done to the claws of the organism, but over time the claws evolved to be much more resilient and sharp. As more time went by, the cyclids were able to live with less and less perfectly shaped rocks since they could just sand it down to the necessary dimensions (not unrealistic: birds instinctively make nests and beavers build dams). This skill became so advanced, that the cyclids were able to eventually take any randomly shaped rock and transform it into a smooth, flat, and round wheel. This allowed the cyclids to get larger and larger as a population—originally, they were limited by the size of the shells of the disk-shaped organisms (if they became too large, the wheels would be really small relative to their size and wouldn’t work as well). A final issue was that as members of this species went through their lives, the wheels constantly rubbed against their “axel” finger bone. When the cyclids used shells, their finger was of much sturdier material and the shell was the one that got sanded down (and they just got a new shell every month to replace the old one), but now, however, the stone sanded off the outer layer of the material. This resulted in the cyclids continuously growing their bone in layers (similar to rodent teeth). As the outer layer got sanded down, the bone would simply become larger.
It is at this point does our story end. Who knows what the cyclid will evolve to next?
At this point, out organism remained practically unchanged for millions of years until eventually an interesting behavior evolved. After eating its meal, this first cyclid put its piercing claw completely through the hole in the center of the cylinder and grabbed onto it with its other hand. This adaptation quickly spread through the population. Although the organism still used its back legs to push itself forward, the wheel at its front was very energy efficient, and allowed the organism to half its energy expenditure while at the same time increasing its speed (no more unwieldy large front leg) much like a wheelbarrow.
Even more time went by and an abnormal creature was born. This one had a mutation in its hox genes for its front legs and ended up with two long spikes. Normally this mutation would cause an organism of this species to die—it could no longer put its claw through the center of a circular shell and its two legs made it very slow to walk otherwise; however, this behavior was deeply impeded in the organism’s brain and it instinctively needed to put its front legs through something (similar to how a pigeon locked in a dark room will always find the south corner and will scratch it trying to get out and fly to a warmer climate). When the creature finally managed to find a coin shaped organism on the floor (luckily, they didn’t have any legs and couldn’t run away, aside from burying into the ground), it made two holes, to the left and right of the center, and sucked out its insides. Then, it put both of its front legs into the empty shell. At this moment, this creature gained a tremendous advantage over the rest of its species. It no longer had to use its back legs to push; rather, it could turn its front legs in a circular motion, akin to the pedals of a bicycle, making it incredibly fast.
Many millions of years went by and the species evolved to move using only its front legs, almost as if it were riding a unicycle. Its back legs slowly moved upwards to where its shoulders used to be as its spine doubled over. The shoulder bones then dropped downwards to cover the sides of its front (which are now lower than the back) legs that held the wheel. Eventually this species hunting pattern changed slightly—it began using its spiky arms to pick up its food and then used its claws to craft holes. Then the organisms used their legs to clamp onto the shells. In fact, the spikes that previously grew out of the front legs of this animal became shorter and shorter (since their role became replaced with the claws growing from its hands) and eventually became short cylindrical in shape, a perfect fit for the holes in the disks/wheels.
Eventually, this species became so fast and good at hunting its prey that its numbers dramatically increased. Then came a point where the disk-shaped organism could no longer sustain the population of the cyclids (each cyclid needed around 1 disk every couple days). Normally, this would have caused the population of the cyclids to fall down, since they no longer have any food left, and the population of the disks to increase due to lack of predation. This would have created the nice sinusoidal graphs we often see in predator/prey ecosystems. Unfortunately, the cyclids adapted to also eat another shell-less descendant of the disks that lived on the ocean floor. As the disk-shaped organisms were hunted to extinction, there were less and less circular shells left for our cyclids to turn into wheels. This was horrible, since the cyclids evolved to be so reliant on their wheels, they couldn’t move without them. Their parents gave them their first wheels when they reached maturity who then switched them every month until death.
The species would have died out, or potentially de-evolved back into some viable quadruped or biped, but the urge to have wheels was strong. They had them for 100s of millions of years and their instincts told them that something was supposed to go between their legs, and if there was nothing there, they should use their hands to carve out a hole in something. This resulted in a new breed of cyclids that found circular shaped rocks (luckily, the cyclid population in question lived near the coast and the tides sanded down rocks nicely) and curved holes into them. The material was much strong than the calcium the shells were made out of and significant damage was done to the claws of the organism, but over time the claws evolved to be much more resilient and sharp. As more time went by, the cyclids were able to live with less and less perfectly shaped rocks since they could just sand it down to the necessary dimensions (not unrealistic: birds instinctively make nests and beavers build dams). This skill became so advanced, that the cyclids were able to eventually take any randomly shaped rock and transform it into a smooth, flat, and round wheel. This allowed the cyclids to get larger and larger as a population—originally, they were limited by the size of the shells of the disk-shaped organisms (if they became too large, the wheels would be really small relative to their size and wouldn’t work as well). A final issue was that as members of this species went through their lives, the wheels constantly rubbed against their “axel” finger bone. When the cyclids used shells, their finger was of much sturdier material and the shell was the one that got sanded down (and they just got a new shell every month to replace the old one), but now, however, the stone sanded off the outer layer of the material. This resulted in the cyclids continuously growing their bone in layers (similar to rodent teeth). As the outer layer got sanded down, the bone would simply become larger.
It is at this point does our story end. Who knows what the cyclid will evolve to next?
