Almost All Mammals Have Seven Cervical Vertebrae

question 49

Multiple Choice

Almost all mammals have seven cervical vertebrae. There is a fitness disadvantage to mammals that have a different number of cervical vertebrae; for example, in humans, fetuses with an abnormal number of cervical vertebrae are often stillborn, and such children are more prone to pediatric cancers. This is an example of

• A) convergent evolution.
• B) phenotypic plasticity.
• C) constraining evolution.
• D) pleiotropy

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