preview

Sonic Seymorphism

Decent Essays

One experiment that proved to be both successful and useful was putting mice sonic hedgehog protein into the skeletal rods of a skate to see if it would “make these rods different from one another, like our digits” (Coyne, 2010 p. 57), the outcome was to the better extreme, “not only did the rods end up looking different from one another, they responded to Sonic hedgehog, much like fingers do. This result according to Coyne (2010) meant, “all appendages, whether they are fins or limbs, are built by similar kinds of genes” (p. 58). Moving forward with selection, it can be noted how populations of species change over time in response to biotic interactions and their environment. Many examples could be used; the vicious Asian giant hornets …show more content…

146) with regards to tails lengths, color, shape size and structure. These traits are costly as they affect only one sex and prove to be harmful for survival, an example is the male red-collard widowbird with tail feathers twice as long as its body and struggles to fly with his tail flopping behind (Coyne 2010). However, Coyne (2010) clarifies, “the currency for selection is not really survival, but successful reproduction. Having a fancy tail or a seductive song doesn’t help you survive, but may increase your chances of having offspring” (Coyne 2010 p. 148). Although Coyne’s explanation made understanding this topic a little easier, it seems that some male species are doomed for a short life. My question is why? What sets them apart? Surely having more than one off spring is desirable for that species. Does it go beyond mating and reproducing? Coyne (2010) explains that the choosy female is the underlying explanation for dimorphism but it seems insufficient, even Darwin didn’t have that answer. Both the ideas of natural selection and sex drive evolution can pave a path to microevolution. This is most certainly seen in the example of the field mice branching off to it’s own camouflage coat color to survive in their environment. The gene responsible for better adaptation will increase with the growing …show more content…

The study of the module asks that we first establish what it means to be human in a way that clearly contrasts us from other animals, living and extinct. The features are simple because we are comfortable with them but distinct when compared to other living creatures, they include short arms relative to our legs, our face does not protrude, we have small teeth, we are wholly bipedal, we have big brains relative to our size, we use sophisticated tools and we are capable of relatively complex communication. The study of the evolution of humans is extremely controversial. Evolutionists like Coyne (2010) insist that with the current fossil records accumulated it is impossible to deny that humans evolved. However creationist “simply sort hominin fossils into what they see as two discrete groups-humans and apes- and assert that these groups are separated by a large and unbridgeable gap” (Coyne, 2010 p.

Get Access