Email Print Share
April 30, 2010

Evolution of the Heart (Image 1)

Embryo hearts show evolution of the heart from a three-chambered in frogs to a four-chambered in mammals. Recent research has found the first genetic link in the evolution of the heart from three-chambered to four-chambered, illuminating part of the puzzle of how birds and mammals became warm-blooded.

This image accompanied NSF press release, "Secrets of the Four Chambers Revealed by Reptile Hearts." [See related image Here.]

Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, after Benoit Brueau, the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease


Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.

Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.

Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.

Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (931 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.