A Stephen Gould Moment

The other day I was looking at a Childrens' Zoology Encyclopedia and I had a random thought:

All the marsupials that live in Australia are more closely related to each other than they are to other mammals. Yet in terms of gross anatomy, each one resembles another common mammal. Koala 'bears", Tasmanian "wolves" (Thylacines), kangaroos, which look like the consequences of a Romeo & Juliet situation between a deer and a rabbit, echidnas which look a lot like hedge-hogs, platypi which are essentially beavers going as ducks for Halloween, etc.

What I am wondering is whether this is evidence of the limitations imposed on evolution either by environmental conditions or fundamental aspects of organic chemistry. Like there are only so many kinds of things that could thrive on planet Earth as it is, or even only a limited number of shapes that you can make with amino acids. Is there a well of untapped creativity in natural forms, or are the things that we see around us the extent of what could be?

The Hills Run Red With The Blood Of Children >:o

The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is generally regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'.
-Wikipedia

Samhain, the root of much of modern Halloween, is the Gaelic word for November and the name of the feast held at the beginning of month to celebrate the harvest . But it was also a day to remember the dead. Kind of like a Celtic Thanksgiving and Dia de los Muertos rolled into one. It makes sense in a twisted, Irish sort of way. Celebration always implies it’s opposite: dread. You don’t celebrate something you take for granted, you celebrate things that you are holding onto for dear life, like abundant food in the fall that you pray will last through the coming winter. So Samhain has a dark side. An actual Irishman told me that the night of Samhain, while festive, is also known as “the night the hills run red with the blood of children”. This was probably just his Irish charm talking, but there is definitely something to the holiday’s devilish side as its surviving Halloween rituals attest. On what other holiday would you carve demonic, candle-lit faces into helpless squash, tell ghost stories to impressionable children and run through the night like a crazy person threatening your neighbors? Gotta love it.

But seriously…Halloween is a profound holiday. Coca Cola and Hallmark have pretty much scrubbed clean the rest of the American calendar, but Halloween is still bad. It’s a night when you don’t exorcise demons, you embrace them; a night to accept that chaos, unpredictability and pain are part of all of our lives. A night to remind us that bad things do happen to good people so you just have to roll with the punches. Hopefully that makes us stronger or at least makes the journey more bearable. Here is a serendipitous example of that Halloween black magic in action.

Also:
The custom of the Jack O'Lantern has its roots in 5th century Ireland, where the people would light candles inside of turnips to scare away spirits.