Ch.2 - Getting a Grip

Chapter 2 is all about how the blueprint for limbs for all creatures are similar and through that you can connect the relation between fish and humans. Shubin starts off the chapter emphasizing how important and complex the human hand is. From there he expanded the topic into a bigger picture on limbs. Although I already knew that there was a similar pattern in the structure of limbs for all living creatures, the detailed explanation of it along with the picture on (31) astounded me once more. But the fun part started when the search for the history of limbs and how they were created began.

Shubin explained how many different fossils of ancient fish were discovered and how each had a different part of a limb. For example, the lungfish had a single bone that attached to their shoulder which can be compared to the human humerus attached to our shoulder. Another example is the Eusthenopteron which had the one bone-two bones part out of Sir Richard Owen's one bone-two bones-lotsa blobs- digits pattern of limbs. When Shubin talked about lungfish, I found his quote, "Locals found them delicious" (33) hilarious. I didn't know whether he meant it to be humorous or whether it was part of the research about lungfish. But however each discovery was a piece of a puzzle to the solution of the whole picture. The entire situation seemed like detectives struggling to solve a mystery by trying to find the perfect fossil that explained the connection of limbs. And they did.

The discovery of Tiktaalik was the key to the question of the development of limbs. It fit the limb arrangement created by Owen. It had a shoulder, elbow, and wrist that allowed it to do a push up. AMAZING. I mean how can it get more human than that? I thought it was smart of Shubin to bring that up because it helps us relate how humans are evolved from fish. Tiktaalik might have not done a push up for P.E. but it did it for its own reason such as finding its way in streams and ponds. The fact that the complex version of human limbs originated from this creature never ceases to amaze me. Although this chapter leads to a lot of questions about evolution and the connection to all living things, we all know one thing we have in common with a fish. We both can do a push up.