Waves Of Grass

Photo Feature

Bronze-winged Jacana
Evolution doesn’t have a hammer and chisel to shape things. It has more subtle ways to bring about change which, over time, accumulate and pass useful traits on to future generations. The ancestors of this Jacana possibly lived along the swamp edge. Over time, the floating lily leaves may have nudged the birds to explore further, in search of insects. Natural selection may have elongated their feet and claws, making it easier to walk on the leaves in search of food. They would then have passed such useful traits to succeeding generations to give us the “lily-trotter” or Bronze-winged Jacana Metopidius indicus, seen here at Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. Photo: Mandar Chowkekar.

waves of grass