Jean Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwins Theories of Evolution

Introduction

Evolution is the gradual, continuous change of characteristics throughout a population or a species over many generations. It is the moderation of characteristics that can alter an entire population over a long period of time and is the theory that explains the variation in each generation of an organism.

Charles Darwin’s theory was natural selection, the survival of the fittest and the struggle for existence, which had a great impact on selective breeding. Organisms that were well-adapted to their environment had more tendency to survive and reproduce, providing their genetic characteristics for future generations whilst those less-adapted organisms were more likely to be decreased in amount. Charles Darwin’s theory also established that all species of life were related and had descended over time from common ancestors.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of evolution suggested that organisms continued to become more complex through the inheritance of acquired characteristics, the idea that an organism can pass on characteristic changes that were acquired throughout their lifetime onto their offspring. Lamarck believed that organisms could alter their behaviour to advance in the changes of the environment and that future generations would inherit these improved modifications.

Pleistocene - Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)

The Woolly Mammoth is much like many modern-day elephants and is believed to be very closely related to the African elephant. They lived in the ice-age in grasslands and tundra-like terrain which provided food for their strictly herbivore diet of grass, shrubs, tree saplings and flower buds. An adult, male mammoth could grow to be 3 meters tall at the shoulder, this was a very useful anti-preda...

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...rvive. From having thick, waterproof hair, little ears and dense trunks to keep warm, the Woolly Mammoth has evolved into today’s African elephant whom has very little hair, large ears and long trunks that assist in keeping cool. Due to these characteristic changes, today’s elephant has more predators, therefore they have learned to travel in groups, minimising the risk of being attacked. The theory that is best suited to describe the evolution of the Woolly Mammoth is natural selection, the Darwinian evolution theory. Natural selection has played an extensive role in the development of the Woolly Mammoth, as the environment continued to become hotter, the survival of the fittest took place. The strongest, most well-adapted Mammoth’s were most likely to endure the changes that the climate was undertaking whilst the less-adapted Woolly Mammoth’s struggled to survive.