Science Forums 2

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by questor

Moon, let me put it another way. How do you explain such diversity in fossil strata? If the animals in the layer were all exposed to a similar environment, why wouldn't they develop similar traits? Why would some eat meat and others grass? Why would some grow wings and others grow horns? Do their genes have some kind of signal mechanism that says.. I need wings, let's grow some?
By the way, can you give an example of a successful mutation that can be heritable?

Animals in similar environments do indeed develop similar traits it's called convergent evolution, dolphins, and ichthyosaurs are examples of this. What you are talking about is divergent evolution, if all animals were vegetarian there would be far less animals. the divide between grass eaters and those that eat them started out way before the animals you see now came to be. Animals didn't just grow wings, there is no mechanism that says we need wings lets grow some, the wings were evolved over thousands of generations in small steps as were horns. such things usually start out as other things and are then slowly changed into other uses. As for successful mutations, there are people in the Mediterranean that have a mutation that makes then less susceptible to heart disease, others of European decent that are immune to aids. a moth in england that was white because it hid on the bark of white barked trees but with the advent of the industrial revolution the soot caused the trees to be black, the moths through predatory pressure changed their color to black, There a great many such examples, you don't have to look very far to find this information.