Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Paedomorphosis

The retention of juvenile or larval characteristics in a reproductively mature organism; esp. the appearance in an adult organism of the juvenile or larval characteristics of an ancestral form. [OED]
Ornimegalonyx oteroi
Giant flightless owl
Late Pleistocene 
Cuba

Elephant bird of Madagascar 
Watercolor by Walton Ford 

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