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REPURPOSING. “A complete survey of the vomeronasal system in humans and other catarrhines reveals some vestiges are best understood as functional hallmarks of a specific time in life history, even though they may disappear or attain a new function later in ontogeny.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

The perfect accident of the cross-section of an ancient fossil locked in limestone. View in LinkedIn

RUDIMENT GENES. “The drastically altered phenotype of a “rudiment” can sometimes make us forget the shared significance of reduced anatomical structures: they demonstrate the persistence of genes. This is true even in the absence of demonstrable functionality, as in the case of atavisms. Yet vestiges are more consistently present.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

SELECTIVE REDUCTION. “While anthropoids may have olfactory deficits, the reduction is probably selective. One chemosensory system is fundamentally altered in anthropoids. A functional vomeronasal system is clearly lacking in catarrhines, and there is anatomical and genetic evidence for a reduction in some NW anthropoids.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

FACIAL DISPLAYS. “Primates, especially anthropoids, are dependent upon visual communication more so than most other mammalian orders and this often occurs via facial displays. Indeed, the evolution of trichromatic vision and the high visual acuity within Old World primates have been linked at least in part to their elaborate use of visual communication, including skin and fur pigmentation and facial displays.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12440/full View in LinkedIn

MIMETIC MUSCULATURE. “Non-mammalian vertebrates use these muscles in breathing and feeding functions but in mammals they also take on new roles assisting with gathering sensory information, making facial displays or expressions during social interactions, moving the external ears, and changing the size of the openings for the external nose, eyes, and mouth.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12440/full View in LinkedIn

THE LEVERS. “Mammalian mimetic musculature is unique among other vertebrates in their attachments directly into the soft, mobile dermis of the face, including the cartilages of the external ears and external nose.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12440/full View in LinkedIn

ANIMATED MASK. “The advent of mammalian apomorphies related to the face is associated with the most mobile and ornamentally patterned faces among all vertebrates. Mammals have the ability to deform the facial mask (including movement of the vibrissae) and the external ears via contraction of the mimetic muscles.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12440/full View in LinkedIn

COMMUNICATION. “Although most mammals still use olfaction as a social communication tool (with the probable exception of cetaceans), the production of sometimes elaborate vocalizations/calls, the mammalian cochlea and three-ossicle middle ear, and the development of patterned, brightly colored fur and skin point to the importance of auditory and visual communication among mammals.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.12440/full View in LinkedIn

Gorgeous wild mushrooms of autumn. View in LinkedIn