Okay, there are some weird plots in science papers out there, but something about this one (which Pak at scirate.com pointed me to), taken from arXiv:0711.1751 “Paleontological Tests: Human-like Intelligence is not a Convergent Feature of Evolution,” by Charles H. Lineweaver made me laugh:
The Quantum Pontiff
Relative Nose Size Versus Time
Posted by Dave Bacon on November 13, 2007
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Comments
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Well, Aardvarks are misinterpreted here … they don’t have long noses, they have pointy faces with the nose at the end.
But other than that, there is a pattern here that makes sense. Mammals get larger on this graph (through the miocene). You can’t have elephant size noses on animals much smaller than an elephant. Large size is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the big shnozz (sp?).
November 13, 2007