Mudskippers, a subfamily of fish that live both on land and in the water, are the only fish that can blink, and they evolved this ability independently from our ancestors, a concept known as convergent evolution.
Scientists think that blinking evolved in land animals when they made the transition from the oceans roughly 375 million years ago. Therefore, studying this example of convergent evolution has offered clues as to how our primordial ancestors first took to Earth’s shores.
“Animals blink for many reasons,” said Thomas Stewart, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University. “It helps us keep our eyes wet and clean, it helps us protect our eyes from injury, and we even use blinking for communication.
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この記事は How It Works UK の Issue 178 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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