Does Natural Selection Produce Real Change?
Survival of the fittest, only the strong survive, scientists today still believe, as Darwin did, that natural selection is one of the major mechanisms by which evolution, as least theoretically, occurs. Charles Darwin observed that within a particular animal or plant species, there are various colors, shapes and other traits. Along with this observation, Darwin contended that in nature the weaker varieties of animals and plants are ‘killed off’ by the stronger varieties due to their better ability to compete for
The Name Game: Living Fossils
Have you ever wondered why so many extinct species of plants and animals look almost exactly like their modern-day counterparts? The textbooks are filled with examples of “living fossils.” What we find is nearly, if not completely, identical organisms remaining virtually unchanged. These fossils are supposed to be really, really, really old, but they look nearly identical to the ones that live today.