Science Forums 2

[Boerseun]

Motion isn't such a big advantage if you've got all your resources close by.

Birds migrating to isolated landmasses without predators soon lose the ability to fly. Think Dodo's, etc. It seems that if a bird can find a valid reason to quit flying, it will.

Digging a taproot of a few tens of metres, securely anchoring yourself against the forces of nature with a taproot handily accessing some underground water source, seems to be a very successful survival strategy. You even get to bribe stupid animals to assist you in reproducing.

I think initially motion became important largely to those simple forms who discovered that the other simple forms floating around next to them constituted a handy source of energy, ready-packed in a cellular container. So, they might have grown cilia and lead the charge of the light brigade in their endeavours to become the first hunters and grazers. The sun-feeders had to devise a new strategy to escape this new danger. This is probably where the animal/plant split came from. Animals are just more efficient and expedient at obeying the Second Law of Thermodynamics.