you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 70 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

Nearly all tetrapods have a laryngeal nerve that goes from the brain stem to the larynx, but doesn't go straight for the few inches, instead travelling down the neck to go around the aortic arch above the heart. It's a throwback to when we were ocean dwelling and had gills much closer to the heart.

In giraffes this nerve takes a 15 ft detour.

In something like a brachiosaurus which had a neck around 30 ft long, this would be a 60ft detour.

A great proof of evolution, of making do with what is there and adapting.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Brachiosaurus wasn’t a mammal.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    Correct. I'll change to Tetrapods.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments