It’s also a local maxima trap. To shift to chewing, they would have to change both bite behaviour, and teeth structure. The intermediate stage is a lot worse than either style.
Even if chewing was the better option, it’s inaccessible from the crocs current method.
Like male cochineals, who can’t feed themselves after reaching adulthood, but are able to reproduce before dying of hunger. Evolution can be really cruel.
If it ain’t broke…
“Ain’t broke” is under selling this. Evolutionarily, this is clearly the optimal solution.
“Ain’t broke” is a lot better of a description than “fittest”.
Evolution selects for the first thing that happens to work. It’ doesn’t have to work particularly well, only well enough to not die from it.
It’s also a local maxima trap. To shift to chewing, they would have to change both bite behaviour, and teeth structure. The intermediate stage is a lot worse than either style.
Even if chewing was the better option, it’s inaccessible from the crocs current method.
Passing on genes is successful enough for evolution.
Like male cochineals, who can’t feed themselves after reaching adulthood, but are able to reproduce before dying of hunger. Evolution can be really cruel.
Me: Choking on a bone
My dinner guests: stunned after I bit into the whole Thanksgiving turkey and slammed my face into the table