3 ms·
How do we know it's because they are perfect as opposed to less adaptable? Let's say there's a species with better error correction of their genes - they would
by ajuc 3y ago
How do we know it's because they are perfect as opposed to less adaptable?
Let's say there's a species with better error correction of their genes - they would retain their shape better even if they are suboptimal.
Especially given that:
> And cats don’t evolve quickly. Compared with other groups, cats are slowly evolving animals.
- jmopp 3y agoWell, the cheetah crossed the Bering strait from North America, through Asia and into Africa, and survived two population bottleneck events in the process. Any other species with a similar lack of genetic diversity as a cheetah would have been driven extinct by that. Kind-of indicates that evolutionarily the cats got something right.
- jjtheblunt 3y agoisn't the inbreeding bottleneck in cheetahs a result of modern era hunting/angry farmers/poaching?
- jmopp 3y agoMolecular clock evidence indicates the population bottlenecks happened 100 000 years ago and 12 000 years ago — prior to modern-era hunting and farming. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5892392/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5892392/
- jjtheblunt 3y agoAwesome link and I didn't know the terminology to use to find it: thank you.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ajuc 3y agoThey don't need to be optimal, they just need to be better than others. I'm just not persuaded all the random things about cats are necessary and THAT's why they are preserved. Is the catnip reaction necessary for example? If not - they aren't optimal, they are just good enough - like every other species.