Convergence or Coincidence???
Evolutionary convergence is the process by which unrelated or distantly related organisms of different lineages evolve similar smorphology, organs, and adaptations, but that were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups. Evolutionary convergence involving unrelated organisms living in similar environments but in different places or even in different environments. Similar or different environments have several challenges to survival, and those converged traits or analogous structures that enhance benefit the organisms are selected for in each environment (Pianka, 2011). There are numerous examples of convergence in the Kingdom Animalia. Among animals, vertebrates and …show more content…
The vertebrates which have the unique feature are bats, dolphin, and toothed whales. Bats (Order Chiroptera), dolphins and toothed whales (Order Cetacea) have the ability to produce sonar pulses and process the returning echoes for prey detection and echolocation. It is an example of phenotypic convergence in vertebrates, notably mammals. Echolocation requires high frequency hearing and thus their cochleae show some convergent anatomical features (Liu et al., 2010). Their cochlear outer hair cells (OCHs) are shorter and stiffer, and this is inferred as adaptation for processing ultrasound and the vibratory response of OHCs to incoming sound waves that confers the enhanced frequency sensitivity and selectivity in the auditory system. According to several researches, the ‘hearing gene’ Prestin was recently shown to have undergone adaptive change in mammal evolution and shown sequence convergence between lineages of echolocating mammals (Li et al., 2008, 2010; Liu et al., 2010). Prestin encodes a motor protein of the outer hair cell and is thought to drive the cochlear amplifier that gives mammalian hearing its characteristically high frequency sensitivity and selectivity (Zheng et al., 2000). Also, over 25 amino acid changes in Prestin are shared by echolocating whales, dolphins and bats (Liu et al., 2010). …show more content…
In fact, there are many more examples of convergence in the Animal world. The stunning examples of convergence can be found among all forms of life, and at all levels from molecules to societies on this planet. It is clear that the forces of natural selection can lead unrelated or distantly related animals living in similar or different environments to acquire or develop remarkably similar adaptive traits in response, resulting in evolutionary