Question

The upper forelimbs of humans and bats have fairly similar skeletal structures, whereas the corresponding bones in whales have very different shapes and proportions. However, genetic data suggest that all three kinds of organisms diverged from a common same time. Which of the following is the ancestor at about the most likely explanation for these data?
A. Forelimb evolution was adaptive in people and bats, but not in whales.
B. Whales are not properly classified as mammals.
C. Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted in significant changes to whale forelimb anatomy
D. Genes mutate faster in whales than in humans or bats.
E. Humans and bats evolved by natural selection, and whales evolved by Lamarckian mechanisms.

Answer 1

Option C is correct

Explanation:

Natural selection in an aquatic environment resulted in significant changes to whale forelimb anatomy

• Natural selection is the concept of evolution where organisms with favorable traits are selected(by nature) and reproduced and this process allows the organisms to adapt to the changing environmental conditions
• The upper forelimbs of humans and bats have fairly similar skeletal structures which means that they might share a common ancestor in skeletal structure but are functionally different which means they share a homology with each other
• The evolution of limbs of whales is also a part of forelimb adaptive evolution
• Gene mutation rates of higher animals are pretty much similar
• Whales are proper mammals and form a connecting link between fish and mammals