Suppose you were to perform an autopsy for a centaur. The creature has, in a sense, two torsos. Where would you expect each of its internal organs to be, or would you expect redundancy?
I would expect a bit of both, actually. There would have to be two hearts, for example, in order to be able to amply supply the brain with properly oxygenated blood. I would expect a longer esophagus leading to the multiple stomachs in the equine torso, which would lead to the rest of the digestive tract being in that area as well... including speen, liver, and other such organs. This leaves quite a lot of space in the hominid torso for modified body parts such as lungs. It wouldn't be efficient to have extra lungs back in the horsey part, so a great deal of the space left by the absence of digestive bits would have larger, or even more likely, extra lungs, and a stronger muscular system that would result in better breath control, better ability to make use of each breath, and some functions which we can't immediately forsee. I would also expect more ribs in the human part, as sort of a cage for the lung system I just described, though with the extra lungs, having one or more punctured isn't as immediately deadly as it would be to us now. There very well might be something akin to a camel's "water hump" storage as well. I think it might be a fun question to put to the evolutionary theorists that re-designed the human body with an eye toward being intended for a lifespan up to 100 years, so that the parts didn't wear out so quick... it was in a Time article last winter or spring
I've wondered if there is any advantage to having two ways to breath: ribs and diaphragm. Clearly there must as all warm-blooded high-oxygen-using mammals have it.
The ribs are really intriguing my mind now. Since our centaur wouldn't need the horse half the breathe, the ribs on the horse half won't need joints or muscles like normal mammals.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it is important that the critters so critter die off, even if they are already superior beings. Without a new generation, evolution stops. And if the old generation doesn't move along, there won't be enough resources to share for the new generation, so either the new group doesn't get born, or will starve out the old. I shudder to think what would happen to our fair planet if humans only taxes were inevitable.
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I've wondered if there is any advantage to having two ways to breath: ribs and diaphragm. Clearly there must as all warm-blooded high-oxygen-using mammals have it.
The ribs are really intriguing my mind now. Since our centaur wouldn't need the horse half the breathe, the ribs on the horse half won't need joints or muscles like normal mammals.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it is important that the critters so critter die off, even if they are already superior beings. Without a new generation, evolution stops. And if the old generation doesn't move along, there won't be enough resources to share for the new generation, so either the new group doesn't get born, or will starve out the old. I shudder to think what would happen to our fair planet if humans only taxes were inevitable.
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