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Then how can we account for butterflies that mimic wing coloration Of toxic counterparts to ward off birds.Evolution is not blind, we just have not figured out

• erelde 10y ago
  $living_thing with $property (wing coloration) isn't dead before reproduction happens, $property may be kept in the offsprings. $living_thing with $property (wing coloration) is dead before reproduction happens, $property may not be transmitted to the offsprings. It's a simple enough concept at its core. Then comes the complications of mutations, random this and that.
  • talideon 10y ago
    And further, I'd point at the observed evolution of the Peppered Moth in response to evolutionary pressures during the industrial revolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution
• jonathansizz 10y ago
  The article isn't saying there is no adaptation; obviously there is and we have evidence for much of it. But where we don't have evidence, we need to assume a null hypothesis of no selection. This might sound obvious to outsiders, but unfortunately it often needs to be pointed out to many biologists (who of course should know better).
• jamesrcole 10y ago
  > Evolution is not blind what is your evidence for this claim? when you say "how can we account for butterflies that mimic wing coloration Of toxic counterparts to ward off birds" there's no reason to suppose the development of that would need to be directed.
• PKop 10y ago
  The ones with wings that didn't mimic died more.