After Pope: Het raadsel van het leven (1986)
Evolution 6 |
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| A nice image of wild life in a savannah in Africa. It looks peaceful, but droughts, scarcety of food and predators can make life very difficult. In that case many (young) animals will die and only the best adapted wil survive. | In the drawing above the struggle for life of a caterpillar has been depicted. Only 5% of the caterpillars survive. 15 % is eaten by birds, 25 % is killed by parasites, another 43 % starves and 12% dies through other causes. Thus there is an enormous selection pressure. If there is a caterpillar with a better camouflage than the other ones, its chance to survive will be much better. And assuming that this trait is hereditary, it will be passed on to the next generation (via the phase of the butterfly). If the trait is not hereditary, there will be no influence on the evolution of the species. |
Evolution 6 |