How Our Eye has Fared in the Jump from Sea to Land opus 401
| 21 July 2024 1800 Hours | | Evolution, Ichthyology, Science |
Did you know we blink 15 times a minute,
Or in a 16 hour day, a fantastic 14,000 times?
Why? Well we evolved from our fish cousins!
In a watery habitat, then shifting to terrestrial open air,
It demanded many compromises which needed to be 'fanangled'.
The optics of water, the protection and nurturing of water--
To move to land was an incredible move.
Because of this, humans have inherited many terrestrial challenges.
Remodeling an aquatic eye to a terrestrial one,
Resulted in no small set of needed adaptations--
Blinking, eyelids acting as windshield wipers,
Nictitating membranes to facilitate flight and hunting,
The evolution of nocturnal living to evade hunting dinosaurs,
Then reversing to a diurnal lifestyle for many, after their demise,
Our ability to see color (cones) vs sensing day and night (rods),
Our inability to see UV in which so many other fellow creatures revel,
And now, more--myopia--perhaps due to increasing screen time,
Plus the fact our children do not get out enough in natural light
Which seems to make an important difference for this condition!