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That is such a cool example of observable evolution! I suppose there is no proof that they weren't always able to that to scale certain trees, but it's safe to
by blackbrokkoli 6y ago
That is such a cool example of observable evolution!
I suppose there is no proof that they weren't always able to that to scale certain trees, but it's safe to say the advantage is really kicking in just now with scaffolding, lantern posts and birdhouses.
Back in school, I learned about the majority of the Biston betularia butterfly turning black at the oneset of large-scale coal industry and then turning white again after stricter emission regulations were implemented - but this is way cooler IMO.
- faitswulff 6y agoThis is not really evolution. Evolution specifically depends on the mechanism of selective pressures on a population as a whole - basically the culling or growth of populations depending on inherited characteristics. This is a single individual learning a new trick. Technically this is adaptation.
- blackbrokkoli 6y agoFair enough. I mean, it could be both, no? Maybe it was gradually adopted and changed from another technique. But maybe it is just one smart guy. The interesting thing is whether the species (or even other species) will adopt this over the next 50 years, I suppose.
- faitswulff 6y agoThe point is that if you’re seeing an individual do something novel, it’s not evolution. Evolution would be if it had a mutation that it passed on that made its survival more or less likely or in speciation - the diverging of one species into two or more. To be pedantic, it is in no way observable evolution. Scientists have observed speciation before when populations of fish got trapped in separate environments and became mutually sexually incompatible - so different species. That’s observable evolution.