Recent comments in /f/aww

volpiousraccoon t1_j20fy0b wrote

Reply to comment by Tifoid in The hand of a Chinese giant salamander by Trulystagnate23

It should be more like every tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate that share ancestry with fish) has 4 limbs and 5-ish fingers configuration.

You are correct when you said that there are exceptions to this with some changes in fingers number and some animals with missing/vestigial limbs but the configuration it is generally true for most tetrapods. Some hooved mammals have one or two big fingers for their hooves because they evolved to loose their other digits over time. Marine mammals like whales are still considered therapods even though they do not really have back legs anymore but they still have the five finger configuration. Snakes are still considered tetrapod because their ancestors were reptiles that had all 4 limbs. It's kind of confusing and complicated, but generally the limb configuration is true for land-living vertebrates.

Insects and centipedes are not even vertebrates, so they do not have anatomy similar to tetrapods. It's kind of complicated but really cool to learn about once you get into it.

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Double_Personality50 t1_j208c2p wrote

Reply to (OC) 2 stray cats come everyday to my balcony to say hi by PizzaXbox

Do they let you touch them? They look very lonely and timid. If you don't want to adopt them, perhaps you can find a cat rescue as they aren't far from the age when they should be neutered in order to save their lives. If they are showing up to you for help, no doubt their mother couldn't be with them for whatever reason, probably sad reason.

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