Joined: Nov. 2006
|Quote (Patrick Caldon @ July 28 2007,05:48)|
European grey wolves are grey (hence the "grey" in the name). Thylacines (tasmanian tigers) were brown with stripes (hence the "tiger").
Those stripes on marsupial wolfs are another puzzle. The same stripes has African Zebra druiker living in Africa. See here:
Now the explanation is that they inhabit "similar types of habitat". I would say that black and white swans also inhabit the same types of habitat (they are the one species) but in this case the habitat excercises different selective pressure to coloration. In the first case the same habitat led to almost same stripe patterns on thylacine/druiker, in the second case the same habitat led to white or black coloration of swans.
Trust me, having been to been to both Europe and Australia that the climates, flora and fauna, and geography are quite different in both regions. For instance, it snows in a goodly portion of the white swan's European range, which was covered in glaciers 10,000 years ago. It does not snow in much of Australia, and we don't have glaciers.
But swans need liquid water to live on. I
I'll repeat, I have no idea why they have the colors they do; that does not imply "god did it". It's a several year research project to work out why white swans are white. If you want to fund the study I'm sure I can find someone to do it for you.
I could not answer, but should maintain my ground.-