ShmoopTube

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Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by anatomy. [Man with Chucknorris's face working out]

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Nobody possesses a perfect one, but Chuck Norris is pretty darn close.

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Take a look at the following statement: These features might be anatomically similar but

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could have different functions.

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And here are the possible answers: Well we can knock C off the list right away.

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Vestigiality refers to organisms that have retained organs which have lost their original

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functions.

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And vestigial organs aren't always necessarily organs [A boy with a magnifying glass looking at his arm]

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Ever wonder why you get goosebumps?

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Way back when, when humans needed to scare off predators, they would raise their body [Caveman and animal predators appear]

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hair to appear larger.

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Nowadays we have other ways of dealing with predators.

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Like lightsabers.

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But since vestigial essentially means functionless, we can eliminate “C”. [Man in black robes with a lightsaber polnts to answer C]

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What about “D”?

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Does comparative embryology have anything to do with functioning features?

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Ehhh...not really. [Two eggs and one cracks and a chick appears]

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Comparative embryology studies look at how animal life is related

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...or not related. [An egg cracks and a cow appears]

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Nothing to do with what our question is asking.

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“D” is out.

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B isn't our answer either.

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Biography is the study of how species and ecosystems are distributed throughout our [Animals and plants on the Earth spinning around]

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world.

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It's the reason why polar bears aren't surfing in Malibu right now... [A polar bear holding a surfboard]

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...and why you can’t have a pineapple tree in North Dakota.

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So we can get rid of B. That leaves “A.” Homologous structures

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are anatomically similar, but could have different functions.

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Think about the femur for a second. [A human and horse in the woods]

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Our femur may be anatomically similar to a horse's, but they serve slightly different

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functions.

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A thoroughbred can reach 35 to 40 miles per hour,

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While some Shmoopers can barely make it to 3rd period math on time. [Student late for class and teacher yells]

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So “A” is our correct answer.

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Maybe one day we'll find a human with a superior femur. [Chucknorris running through the forest]

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...Maybe we already have.

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