The hippopotamuses captive environment is much different to its natural environment. In its captive environment it eats ,daily, 30 pounds of Timothy hay and one and a half gallons of grain. They also receive enrichment treats of apples, carrots and lettuce. In the hippopotamuses natural environment they eat short cropped patches of vegetation that are preferred to be easily chewed and they travel very far distances to do so; up to 6 miles. Hippopotamuses in the wild also sometimes very rarely eat meat when grass is extremely scarce. Concerning habitat, the captive environment is significantly different to its natural environment in regards to temperature, humidity, light, sound, predators, vegetation, space, smell, etc because it is a different
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The captive hippopotamus has acquired its genetic make up from the specific genotypes in hippopotamus parents selected by humans in favor for characteristics different to the wild counterpart. The consequences of this are that this type of artificial selection completely eliminates adaptation to the natural environment and the desirable stronger characteristics that would prevail in a natural environment. Eliminating natural selection causes the weaker less adaptive characteristics to stay in the environment instead of in a natural one where they would die out. The captive environment creates a weaker gene pool of a species because of artificial selections suited to less extreme environments compared to the wild version which has a stronger gene pool because of natural selection suited for a tougher environment. These weaker genes stay in the population because the captive environment poses no challenges to its survival so the traits that would not be favorable in a natural environment stay. In terms of evolution, it happens artificially. The causes of evolution are not present in a captive environment. Natural selection does not occur because it has been replaced by artificial selection which create weaker specimens not suited for
The captive hippopotamus has acquired its genetic make up from the specific genotypes in hippopotamus parents selected by humans in favor for characteristics different to the wild counterpart. The consequences of this are that this type of artificial selection completely eliminates adaptation to the natural environment and the desirable stronger characteristics that would prevail in a natural environment. Eliminating natural selection causes the weaker less adaptive characteristics to stay in the environment instead of in a natural one where they would die out. The captive environment creates a weaker gene pool of a species because of artificial selections suited to less extreme environments compared to the wild version which has a stronger gene pool because of natural selection suited for a tougher environment. These weaker genes stay in the population because the captive environment poses no challenges to its survival so the traits that would not be favorable in a natural environment stay. In terms of evolution, it happens artificially. The causes of evolution are not present in a captive environment. Natural selection does not occur because it has been replaced by artificial selection which create weaker specimens not suited for