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To function the snake's jaws are very dependent on all the other attributes of a snake.
that's because the jaw evolved at the same time as all the other things...?
Well I guess that is the big question. Some evolutionists support the idea of the very large mutation occurring and conditions being OK for it to survive as opposed to the Richard Dawkins (and others) approach of the extremely gradual change.
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In short, if it took 10 million years to get from lizard to snake about 8 or 9 million of those years would mean an amimal that was useless.
does it?
sorry, i don't follow? why would a snake's ancestors be useless?
Lizards have very powerful crushing bites and very rigid teeth. Snakes have extemely weak bites and very weak but sharp teeth. A snakes upper (skull for other animals) and lower jaws are split and are seperate from the skull which is what enables them to swallow such large animals. A snake is probably the only predator that does not kill or injure its prey from the bite.
Even is breathing system is adapted to the big swallow as it has what amounts to an external airway that comes up to the edge of the mouth. If not there it would suffocate while eating.
OK, so try and imagine, think of, draw it if you like how you can progress a lizard skull through to snake and it must be done so it can survie eons of time. By the way, the reverse is just as bad.
While you are doing this you also have to change the whole body structure. Snakes have long bodies but very short tails. The very large majority of lizards, including legless lizards have bodies that typically range from 1/3rd to 1/2 of total length. A snake has one working lung that is body length. Its whole system is geared to how it hunts and eats.
There is more
The devopment of the venom/fang system. Two lizards, the Gila Monster and Beaded Lizard (cousins) have venom but it just runs along the bottom jaw, not an injection system.
Then of course you have the fixed fang snakes such as the Elapids (mambas, taipan, tiger snakes) and the hinged fang snakes, Vipers (puff adder, russells viper and Pit Vipers (rattle snakes). Think about the devopment of the hinged fang. That would spend some time in the useless department.
While all this happening we need to do something about the ribs
like go from a few to hundred
If you handle a legless lizard and a small snake of the same size they don't even feel similar.
It would be easier for a lizard to evolve to a dog or a cat.
- it was when GWB screwed the world up and the USA became the most hated country in the world that things went downhill.
