Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Evolution Continued

Then notice that there are no ribs in the lumbar region. That is, humans do not have ribs around their abdomen. Then notice the skeletons of the dinosaurs below. They both have ribs from each vertebral body.

The only conclusion that I can draw is that, as humans evolved, they lost their lumbar ribs. I have seen some patients with extra ribs. These are most commonly in the cervical region (i.e. in the neck where they present with masses on one or both sides that scares the bejesus out of everyone until the X-ray shows the extra ribs.) I guess you can also have an extra abdominal rib though nothing turns up on a Google search (my new gold standard).

Why would anyone make a human being denovo that had transverse processes specifically for ribs if they weren't going to be used? Doesn't make much sense, does it. Seems to suggest that humans evolved from a prior species that DID have abdominal ribs. Maybe it was dinosaurs.

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