Darwin 26

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Sheep with four horns

Sheep without horns

It lasted till 1859 before Darwin published his theory. He feared the consequences for society (and for himself) if it became well-known that species could change. Nearly everyone did after all believe that the species had been created by God and thus were unchangeable. He was afraid for all the trouble he would get when he published this.
That's why he decided to delay the publication till he had collected as many arguments as possible. He was aware of the fact that many people applied the principles of selection, namely the breeders. These people selected those animals with which they wanted to breed to get a better race. This kind of selection is called artificial selection.
Original sheep races often possess four horns (photo on the left), or sometimes even eight. By breeding with sheep which have less horns, a race can be obtained with two horns or even without horns (like the sheep above). The horns were often tricky because the animals could hurt each other or could be stuck in the scrubs.
Plant races, too, were changed  and improved by artificial selection. This is called ennobling.
To found his theory better, Darwin started collecting huge amounts of information by corresponding with breeders and growers.

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Artificial selection

Darwin 26

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