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NEW! Evolutionary Tidbit of the Month
In any ecosystem, organisms will tend to evolve to fit whichever ecological niches are available, taking advantage of any sources of nourishment, shelter, etc. which might be available. Often, animals which occupy the same niche in different areas of the world "convergently" evolve to look like each other. Look at the sharp teeth, lean body, and pointy snout of both the gray wolf in North America and the extinct thylacine in New Zealand; the two animals evolved from a shrew-y ancestor that looked nothing like either of them, but a good design for chasing and killing prey is a good design, period!
However, sometimes two totally different designs will work for the same function...did you know that kangaroos fill the same ecological niche of athletic herbivorous grazers that are elsewhere filled by the four-legged ruminants like deer and antelope?