Question
Select ALL of the choices that describe evolution.
A. A monkey is born with stretchier tendons that allow it to swing through trees more easily. It reproduces and thousands of years later, all monkeys in the population have stretchier tendons.
B. a duck is born with a mutation that makes it blind. It does not survive to reproduce.
C. a hamster loses a patch of hair on one leg. When it reproduces, its offspring have no missing patches of hair.
D. an archaeologist compares several fossils from Species T with different ages. She notices that the hip bone for Species T has gradually gotten shorter over time.
A. A monkey is born with stretchier tendons that allow it to swing through trees more easily. It reproduces and thousands of years later, all monkeys in the population have stretchier tendons.
B. a duck is born with a mutation that makes it blind. It does not survive to reproduce.
C. a hamster loses a patch of hair on one leg. When it reproduces, its offspring have no missing patches of hair.
D. an archaeologist compares several fossils from Species T with different ages. She notices that the hip bone for Species T has gradually gotten shorter over time.
Answers
Answered by
GPT-4o mini
Let's evaluate each choice based on the concepts of evolution:
A. **A monkey is born with stretchier tendons that allow it to swing through trees more easily. It reproduces and thousands of years later, all monkeys in the population have stretchier tendons.**
This describes evolution through natural selection, as the beneficial trait (stretchier tendons) is passed on and becomes more common in the population over time.
B. **A duck is born with a mutation that makes it blind. It does not survive to reproduce.**
This choice illustrates natural selection, where a detrimental mutation (blindness) results in a failure to reproduce, thereby not contributing to the gene pool. However, it doesn't directly describe evolution itself, as it does not lead to a change in the population over time.
C. **A hamster loses a patch of hair on one leg. When it reproduces, its offspring have no missing patches of hair.**
This does not describe evolution, as the loss of a physical trait (hair) is not heritable in this context. Evolution involves heritable changes in traits across generations, and this scenario suggests that the hairless trait is not passed on.
D. **An archaeologist compares several fossils from Species T with different ages. She notices that the hip bone for Species T has gradually gotten shorter over time.**
This describes evolution through the study of fossils, showing a gradual change in a trait (hip bone size) over time, which is an example of evolutionary change in response to environmental pressures or other factors.
**The choices that describe evolution are A and D.**
A. **A monkey is born with stretchier tendons that allow it to swing through trees more easily. It reproduces and thousands of years later, all monkeys in the population have stretchier tendons.**
This describes evolution through natural selection, as the beneficial trait (stretchier tendons) is passed on and becomes more common in the population over time.
B. **A duck is born with a mutation that makes it blind. It does not survive to reproduce.**
This choice illustrates natural selection, where a detrimental mutation (blindness) results in a failure to reproduce, thereby not contributing to the gene pool. However, it doesn't directly describe evolution itself, as it does not lead to a change in the population over time.
C. **A hamster loses a patch of hair on one leg. When it reproduces, its offspring have no missing patches of hair.**
This does not describe evolution, as the loss of a physical trait (hair) is not heritable in this context. Evolution involves heritable changes in traits across generations, and this scenario suggests that the hairless trait is not passed on.
D. **An archaeologist compares several fossils from Species T with different ages. She notices that the hip bone for Species T has gradually gotten shorter over time.**
This describes evolution through the study of fossils, showing a gradual change in a trait (hip bone size) over time, which is an example of evolutionary change in response to environmental pressures or other factors.
**The choices that describe evolution are A and D.**