I remember hearing once about how we humans may have evolved from dolphins. No guff, seriously. There's actually a fair bit of theoretics out there, not to say that that makes the theory any more valid, but some people buy into it. One reason is the mammalian cortex (look it up).
In any case, in the reading we skipped, was Darwin's theory of evolution-natural selection, which goes something like: those characterisitics that best aid organisms to survive and reproduce are the ones that get passed on. Read the Origin of Species, or any biology book for that matter, for a more detailed account.
Anyway, after a preliminary google search of dolphin evolution man turned up no results of what I was looking for, I decided to take it to the academic journals to find out if any info had ever been published on the topic. I'm still looking, though my interest was sparked when I came accross an article entitled The Ancestor Within, which talks about how one dolphin in Japan was observed to have an extra set of flippers, which he used to escape being slaughtered. The issue of debate is whether evolution is irreversible. The concept of irreversibility is referred to as "Dollo's Law, " after Louis Dollo, who was studying the fossil record at the same time Cesare Lombroso (look him up) was making a case for criminal inheritance, reasoned that "there is no reason why evolution cannot run backwards." In any case, Dollo's Law goes against one of evolution's fundamental tenets-that evolution doesn't run backwards.
While there's more evidence presented within the article, as well as a host of other theories, I haven't the patience, nor time to sift thru it at the present moment. But I figured this post might serve as a springboard for any of you who have any interest in the theory, superifical or otherwise.
Here's the reference if you want to find it:
Lepage, M. (2007). The ancestor within. New Scientist, 193(2586). pp.28-33.
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