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The explanation for H4 Jackals is still lacking.
By:Gravemind
Date: 9/25/14 3:32 pm
In Response To: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Edition (Grizzlei)

We already knew the Halo 4 Jackals were supposed to be a different subspecies. This isn't new news. But anyone with a basic knowledge of evolution and comparative anatomy know that that's a BS explanation, and we all know that it was simply 343I's art department making artistic changes for the sake of change. I already wrote a long post about this topic a year ago, but here's the "TL;DR" version.

The skulls for an Ibiesh Jackal and a common Jackal are so radically different that not only can they not possibly be the same species, they cannot even be part of the same genus or even part of the same family, and at best are only part of the same order, though most likely they share only the same class. In any case their most recent common ancestor with the common Jackal is likely several tens of millions of years ago, and the nearly identical appearance from the neck down would have to be just a very, very lucky instance of convergent evolution. Even artificial selection couldn't produce skulls of such radical structural differences within the lowest taxa. Ibiesh Jackals are, biologically speaking, about as closely related to the common Jackal as humans are with dolphins.

Now, the common Jackal and the Skirmishers are morphologically similar enough to where they could potentially be of the same genus or at least of the same family, and their most recent common ancestor could be as recent as several million years ago, but even they are almost certainly not the same species as the common Jackal. They are likely at least as closely related to each other as humans and other great apes are to each other, but no closer than how close humans were with, say, Homo erectus or Homo floresiensis.


Messages In This Thread

The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionGrizzlei9/24/14 9:13 pm
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editionzofinda9/24/14 10:05 pm
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionGrimBrother One9/24/14 11:00 pm
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionUrban Reflex9/25/14 1:16 pm
                 Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionQuirel9/25/14 2:18 pm
     Been Gone too LongCody Miller9/24/14 11:51 pm
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editionserpx9/25/14 12:32 am
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionGrizzlei9/25/14 12:38 am
                 Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editiondavidfuchs9/25/14 9:50 am
     A badly badly needed breath of fresh airAvateur9/25/14 12:45 am
           Re: A badly badly needed breath of fresh airArteenEsben9/25/14 7:05 am
     Oooof... You teaseTDSpiral9/25/14 1:11 am
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editioncar159/25/14 4:16 am
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editionzofinda9/25/14 5:43 am
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionArteenEsben9/25/14 7:09 am
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionMacGyver109/25/14 11:41 am
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editionthebruce09/25/14 12:13 pm
           Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionVAVA Mk29/25/14 7:25 pm
                 Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert Editionthebruce09/26/14 10:51 am
           I agree. A return to that story portion is needed. *NM*robofin1179/26/14 1:18 pm
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionQuirel9/25/14 3:01 pm
           Forgot to add...Quirel9/25/14 3:30 pm
                 Re: Forgot to add...JDQuackers9/25/14 10:21 pm
     The explanation for H4 Jackals is still lacking.Gravemind9/25/14 3:32 pm
           Re: The explanation for H4 Jackals is still lackinzofinda9/25/14 4:20 pm
           Negativity warning.Quirel9/25/14 5:06 pm
                 Re: Negativity warning.Avateur9/25/14 9:44 pm
                       Re: Negativity warning.Quirel9/26/14 1:03 pm
     Re: The Halo Bulletin: Nerd Alert EditionVAVA Mk29/25/14 7:17 pm

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