Nearly all mammals have a laryngeal nerve that goes from the brain stem to the larynx, but doesn’t go straight for the few inches, instead travelling down the neck to go around the heart. It’s a throwback to when we were ocean dwelling and had gills much closer to the heart.
In giraffes this nerve takes a 15 ft detour.
In something like a brachiosaurus which had a neck around 30 ft long, this would be a 60ft detour.
A great proof of evolution, of making do with what is there and adapting.
I wasn’t gonna say this but since you’re making changes anyway: the recurrent laryngeal nerve doesn’t go around the heart but around the aortic arch and the great arteries.
Nearly all mammals have a laryngeal nerve that goes from the brain stem to the larynx, but doesn’t go straight for the few inches, instead travelling down the neck to go around the heart. It’s a throwback to when we were ocean dwelling and had gills much closer to the heart.
In giraffes this nerve takes a 15 ft detour.
In something like a brachiosaurus which had a neck around 30 ft long, this would be a 60ft detour.
A great proof of evolution, of making do with what is there and adapting.
Brachiosaurus wasn’t a mammal.
Yes but a brachiosaurus is still a fish
Hell yeah, fuck paraphyletic groups.
Correct. I’ll change to Tetrapods.
I wasn’t gonna say this but since you’re making changes anyway: the recurrent laryngeal nerve doesn’t go around the heart but around the aortic arch and the great arteries.
Meh, I’ve seen better arteries.