What Is Convergent Evolution?

[Sharks](https://www.livescience.com/animals/fish/sharks) (opens in new tab) are egg-laying fish with the deadly ability to sniff out blood in the water, while dolphins are curious mammals that navigate by making clicking sounds and listening for their echoes.)

Each of Earth's habitats presents its own challenges. Sometimes, different species develop the same solution to the same problem. Biologists call this process — when two organisms share characteristics that they didn't jointly inherit from a common ancestor — convergent evolution.)

A dolphin's fin and a human hand, for instance, are homologous because they have the same bone structure, despite their functions diverging since our last common ancestor.)

the dolphin's fin is an analogue of the shark's fin — they have the same purpose but different shapes because they evolved independently (and convergently).)

Humans and octopuses separately evolved camera-like eyes with an iris, a lens and a retina — all essential parts of an imaging device.)

Both convergent and parallel evolution serve as reminders that natural selection has no favored path, no intrinsic arc from basic to advanced. Species can diverge, converge and diverge again. Evolution insists only that species adopt survival strategies that work in a given environment, regardless of where those strategies come from.)