Why did the ancestors of snakes go through so much trouble to evolve just to lose their legs?

Looking at all reptiles, snakes are a very special group. Although they are classified as reptiles, they do not rely on four legs to walk like other reptiles. A slippery body is all they have.

But the amazing thing is that without the restriction of four legs, snakes surpass most reptiles in mobility. They can climb trees, go into water, and drill into meadows and dead trees, which is far beyond the reach of other reptiles.

In fact, if we trace the origin of snakes, we will find that the ancestors of snakes had evolved 26 times with difficulty just to abandon their reptile legs. Why did they do this?

Snakes once crawled

The impression that snakes give to modern people is that they are slippery. Although they do not have strong limbs, they can still crawl very quickly on complex terrain.

But did you know that the ancestors of snakes actually had legs? In the past, even scientists did not believe that this result was true because they had examined snake fossils dating back 40 million years and found no evidence that snakes had limbs.

It was not until 2011 that paleontologists discovered the fossil of a snake ancestor dating back about 95 million years in northern Africa, and found a pair of hind limbs on it; although the hind limbs were extremely short, less than 2 cm, they were enough to prove that the ancestor of snakes crawled on their feet in the early years.

If you give snakes limbs, what animal do you think of? That's right, a lizard! Some experts in the field of paleontology also believed that snakes evolved from a branch of land lizards. During the tens of millions of years of evolution, their limbs gradually degenerated, while their bodies became longer and longer.

Some paleontologists believe that the ancestors of snakes were sea lizards. When some clans of sea lizards chose to live on land, they gradually evolved into snakes.

In fact, no matter which theory is used, it can be seen that snakes, as reptiles, have four limbs in their ancestors, but they gave up their limbs in the subsequent evolution process. So when did snakes begin to evolve? According to paleontologists, the earliest known snake fossils originated in the Jurassic period, which is 167 million years ago.

This shows that the ancestors of snakes lived in the same world as dinosaurs. The only difference is that dinosaurs became extinct in the subsequent meteorite impact, while the ancestors of snakes survived because of their small size. At that time, snakes still had limbs. Until about 90 million years ago, all snake fossils lost their limbs and became the slippery appearance they are today.

Many scholars believe that the ancestors of snakes gave up crawling on four legs about 113 million years ago, but the body structure is unique to any life form, and you can't just give it up if you want to. But the ancestors of snakes had this ability, and they spent about 20 million years and about 26 independent evolutions before finally giving up their limbs.

From this perspective, snakes are far more capable than humans, as they can both avoid devastating natural disasters and evolve independently to become what they want.

If the dinosaurs, the dominant species on Earth, had this ability, perhaps they would not have become extinct. But this undoubtedly raises a question: Why did the ancestors of snakes go to such great lengths to do this?

Why did the ancestors of snakes abandon their four legs?

After hundreds of years of research, paleontologists have divided the study of "why snakes give up their limbs" into two research directions. They have each achieved research results in this field, which has helped future generations to better study the origin and development of snakes.

First of all, the first view is that snakes have to evolve in order to survive. Why do we say that? In the Jurassic period when the ancestors of snakes lived, large creatures similar to dinosaurs were qualified to dominate the land. Even if the ancestors of snakes were the size of lizards, they would be just a meal for dinosaurs and would not be able to fight at all.

The ancestors of snakes could not survive on land, so they could only achieve reverse evolution - returning to the ocean. In fact, this phenomenon is too common in the paleontological world. Although land provides a vast habitat for organisms, not all organisms are eligible to enjoy land resources.

Only those creatures with huge bodies and strong fighting power can survive on land, while those small animals are at the bottom of the food chain and do not even have the qualifications to survive.

Therefore, in order to survive, the ancestors of snakes decided to degenerate their limbs and evolve towards marine life. Although there is also considerable competition in the ocean, the area of ​​the ocean is 2.7 times that of land, and the ancestors of snakes need a larger and broader living space to live in the ocean.

Secondly, the second view holds that the ancestors of snakes did not voluntarily degenerate their limbs. It is very likely that a genetic mutation during 20 million years of evolution eventually led to this result.

Previously, paleontologists have compared snakes with other terrestrial quadrupeds and found that the fundamental reason why snakes do not have four legs is that they lack a gene related to limbs. This limitation alone prevents snakes from being like other reptiles.

But there is another question: Why did the genes of the snake ancestors mutate? Was it that sudden natural disaster that changed the living environment of the snake ancestors, or was there some other reason that made the snake ancestors voluntarily give up the four-legged genes?

Now that 167 million years have passed, I am afraid that modern people will never be able to investigate what happened in ancient times. We only know the final result: the ancestors of snakes selectively evolved and successfully lost their limbs.

Conclusion:

Fortunately, humans still have a way to get a glimpse of ancient history: fossils. Whenever a fossil from ancient times is found, it means uncovering a long-forgotten history.

The evolution of snakes is indeed amazing, but there are tens of thousands of species in nature, and all creatures that have survived from ancient times to the present have their own unique ways of survival.

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