• What is Darwin’s point about domestic breeding (for example, the breeding of pigeons and dogs)?
Breeding was a popular and familiar exercise among the farmers in the 19th century. The farmers who wanted to change the shape of the pick of the pigeon or the color of the sheep will selectively choose the sheep or the pigeon with the certain characteristics to breed. Therefore, the farmer will only breed the sheep (with white wool) and the pigeon (with a long and narrow beak) for certain duration. As a result of selective breeding, the whole flock of sheep or pigeons will have the desired characteristics. This is because the offspring will inherits some of the traits of their parents.
• What does Darwin mean by the “struggle for existence?”
When the population of same species or different species (with the same eating habit) increases in a certain area, there will be pressure on the available resources. The resources will become scarce. Therefore, the population available will compete for the little resources (food) available so that to survive. The scarcity of the available resources cannot sustain the population by meeting the needs of every species in the environment. The species with favorable characteristics such as the long-necked giraffe will survive for a longer period. The species with unfavorable characteristic will die leaving the species with favorable characteristic enjoy the available resources. Therefore, this competition for resources in order to survive is what constitutes the struggle for existence.
• What is a “favorable variation?”
Living things although they are of the same species, they are differentiated by shape, size, and color. These variations are what make certain specie survive in a certain area. This is whereby the characteristics possessed by specie makes it adapts to the environment more than the others. These traits in certain species are what make them unique. Hence, they can fit in the certain environment well than the rest of the species when the conditions changes. For example a long-necked giraffe, this trait favor it when there is a huge competition for lower leaves.
• What is “natural selection?”
When the climate or the environment changes unfavorably, the available resources such as food diminish or become scarce. As a result, the living organisms compete for the scarce food available. The species with favorable characteristics will survive for a longer period. The species with unfavorable traits will die leaving behind the species with favorable characteristics. Therefore, natural selection is whereby the nature favors the species with favorable characteristics by providing conditions that friendly and accommodating to them. Those species with no favorable characteristics die leaving behind species with favorable traits.
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