Follow the Broken Skull. The History of Skeleton Evolution. Leonid Horobets

If it seems to you that some organ appeared in the process of evolution out of nowhere, then it seems to you. Or you are dreaming. Nothing comes from nowhere. The way you and I are built, your house cat or the chirping bird outside the window, down to the smallest bone, is the result of millions of years of evolution.

Scientist Leonid Horobets tells all this in his book "Follow the Broken Skull. The History of the Evolution of the Skeleton". He meticulously traces how the skeleton and bones changed, explaining how evolution worked all these years on dinosaurs, humans and even fish.

What is the "Sonic the Hedgehog" gene, why do frogs "give up" ribs and why does crocodile meat taste like chicken? Why are the eyes located on the head, and not, say, on the hands, and are the limbs really former fins? Which fish can outrun a cheetah and which finger would have to be amputated if we moved like reptiles? Why are octopuses, despite their large brains, sometimes dumber than bees, and what do sharks have in common with airplanes? The author of the book answers these and other questions, while explaining why the internal skeleton is cooler than the external one and how to distinguish a colleague from a reptilian.