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Salamander rule 1: Stroke ain’t broke, so don’t fix it—for 270 million years

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File:Taricha granulosa (Rough-skinned newt).JPG
rough-skinned newt/The High Fin Sperm Whale

Or more, when necessary. Talk about stasis!

From New Scientist:

Amphibians have been using the same swimming technique for 270 million years, a set of ancient footprints reveals.

“Tracks are very useful because they tell you about the life and activity of an animal,” he says. “Instead of looking at a snapshot you see a movie.” More.

The early amphibian that made the tracks between 270 and 283 mya (Permian period) seems most like a salamander in its movements.

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Modern salamander walking:

Comments
Indeed fossils always make unreasonable claims that evolution has been shaping all biology and making glorious results. THEN when its the same as today they mUST invoke stasis . they have too!! Stasis is sooo unlikely if evolution was true after so long. in fact these fossils are from a few thousand years ago.Robert Byers
July 17, 2014
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I suppose in some lineages of fish swimming techniques have remained in use for longer than that. Some birds haven't modify their flight much in 100+ million years, and the paces of various groups of terrestrial tetrapods haven't changed much either. There are a limited number of effective modes of locomotion in a given environment. But why stasis? Were the animals that left the tracks salamanders? Or did they just happen to swim in a similar way?Piotr
July 17, 2014
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