Mantis leg

Plenty of good blip material today, but I have decided to crop in on this mantis to show you the complexity of her hunting equipment. The front legs are dual purpose and can still be used for walking, but their main function is for the hunt.

You can see the row of thorny spikes on the forearm and double row on the upper arm. The lower arm culminating in a large curved spike which prevents the prey from wriggling free. The spikes are not meant for piercing, purely as a means to grip.

Such fascinating creatures, demonstrating the power of Darwinian evolution.

As humans, we are really only youngsters in evolution terms. This is probably why we have so many health issues, back problems, birth problems. We have not fully evolved into our transition to the upright.

The biggest problem we have now is that any further chance of evolution has been lost. As a result of the development of our brains, we have found solutions to our ailments in the form of medical care, but this has canceled out natural selection. We are now frozen specimens.

Our brains will continue to improve as we learn how to train them, but this is not evolution. The brain we have today is the same brain we had a thousand years ago.

Eventually DNA manipulation will be sanctioned and the human form will be improved by mans own selection. Is this a good or a bad thing, certainly the idea is fraught with danger.

Dave