Natural Selection

Improved Essays
To understand the origin of whales, it's necessary to have a basic understanding of how natural selection works. Natural selection can change a species in small ways, causing a population to change color or size over the course of several generations. This is called "microevolution."

But natural selection is also capable of much more. Given enough time and enough accumulated changes, natural selection can create entirely new species, known as "macroevolution." It can turn dinosaurs into birds, amphibious mammals into whales and the ancestors of apes into humans.

Take the example of whales — using evolution as their guide and knowing how natural selection works, biologists knew that the transition of early whales from land to water occurred

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    MS-LS-4-2 Summative Assessment: Anatomical Name: Anzar Mahmood and Embryological Development Date:11/13/17 Period:3A Advisor:kees Title: Whale Evolution Essay Albert Schweitzer stated, “The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.” Scientist say evolution took place because there is evidence of different whale fossil records being compared to modern whales which shows evolution. There are also fossil records for chickens, humans, and other animals.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Construction workers were just digging on a mountain in Santa Cruz County, California. They were surprised when they came across fossils during their dig, but it's not unusual to find fossils in a mountainous area. what was extremely odd about this fossil is that it was an almost completely intact fossil of a whale. Whales in the mountains How did the whale get there?…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ALAA ALMAZROU Christian Petersen 9 OCT 2015 Forces of Evolution There is a great series were started since nearly 2,300 years ago. Biological populations change off the characteristics that are inherited from one population to another. The process through which these changes occur in human and animals is referred to as evolution.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Erin Allbritton BIO103 3/2/17 Professor Van Breukelen Chapter 5-Ecosystems and Living Organisms 1. How do biologists define evolution? Biologists define evolution as the cumulative genetic changes that occur in a population of organisms over time. 2. What are Darwin’s four premises of evolution by natural selection?…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Erin Brodwin Analysis

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “A Possible Break in One of Evolution’s Biggest Mysteries” by Peter Brannen is a sublime piece of writing and he does very well at expressing how whale evolution is seen today and the lengths that scientists are going to improve their understanding. While “12 Examples of Evolution Happening Today” is an enjoyable read and a good beginning to show the different kinds of adaptations and evolution changes that are happening to various species, it does not completely explain each example and does not include outside sources or citations for the data used. Brannen’s article is exceedingly more comprehensive in the topic of whale evolution, and is altogether a more authentic article than Brodwin’s…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One of the biggest ideas that evolution explains to us is natural selection. Natural selection helps explain why some animals adapt due to a change in their ecosystem. Picture a community of rabbits with many different types of rabbits. Some rabbits are better at surviving and reproducing at hotter temperatures than other rabbits. As you can see, if it gets hotter, those rabbits who are can deal with the heat will be able to produce more bunnies than those who can’t deal with the hot weather.…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The information and details given were sometimes too methodical and meticulous for my essay, but were trustworthy. The main subject of the article was the population-level conservation of the specie, but the author reached his subject with an approach and examples allowing me to learn more about the basic whaling, climate and consequences on the whales in a more “student adapted” language. The vocabulary used was occasionally mathematical and formal because of the use of methods and formulas to explain the genetic clusters and population structure of the mammal necessary for the research. I found this article interesting and complex. The theories were well explained and kept a neutral point of view, which was pleasant.…

    • 1703 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Natural Selection Charles Darwin Charles Darwin Natural Selection article is knowledgeable that makes it usable and reliable. Natural Selection article comes with many good qualities. The statement Darwin being influenced by other scientist made this article better.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Some people may not believe this, but whales have been around for over 50 million years; however, they have not always like they do today (WGBH). Scientist have found over seven different species that whales could have originated from. Some species have had four legs with a furry tail; others have had two flippers and a blubbery tail (“The Evolution”) Here are some hypotheses for how whales have became whales: evolution (depending on religion and beliefs) or whales have just always been apart of the world and never really thought about it. Evolution is known as a response to opportunities and challenges in the environment (Surera).…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    An example in nature of how natural selection works is where in savanna there are a lot of giraffes roaming among the tall trees. When bushes got decreased, long neck giraffes will not have a problem because they can eat leaves off the tall trees. Short neck giraffes won’t able to survive because there are no food to eat. That is why it is better to have giraffes with a long neck so they can live without any problems.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 2010, one of SeaWorld’s trainers was killed by one of their trained killer whales. Dawn Brancheau was the trainer that was killed by the killer whale. This tragic event shocked the whole nation. There have been several descriptions on how the trainer was killed. Some say that the trainer “drowned” or that the whale “grabbed the trainer by the waist.”…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Killer Whales Life Essay

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages

    CATCHY TITLE Imagine yourself swimming along in the ocean without a care. Your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles all are swimming along beside you. You can taste the salt water hitting your taste buds, and you can feel the warm summer sun penetrate through the water and hit your thick, strong skin. You swim miles and miles all day long with your family, catching fish and talking non stop, and you couldn’t be happier.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There has always been much controversy over your theory of evolution; a theory that has lasted or almost 160 years, with not a single piece of evidence presented that disproves the fundamental validity of that theory. In fact, it is being supported time and time again by fossil records. However, thats not to say your theory is perfect. The point of a theory is not to be perfect. The ideas you have presented, however, are the best and most scientifically grounded ideas we have about the way species evolve and change.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Writing Assignment #1 Lasiognathus dinema There are a couple misconceptions you might have about evolution and natural selection. The strongest and most important organisms do not survive over the generations. Although evolution occurs due to fitness in an individual or individuals of a species, an organism cannot survive over generations. Fitness is achieved through variations in populations of species through genetic differentiation (Scottville “n.d.”). Since the life cycle of all living organisms is to be born, survive, mate, and die, it is impossible for an organism to live through several generations.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Importance Of Biology

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Understanding how humans and other organisms have evolved is fascinating. Charles Darwin was the individual who developed the theory of natural selection. Natural selection is “the process by which species become better adapted to their local environments” (Witz BW 2004). Darwin arrived at this statement by observing the biological structures of organisms, formulating a hypothesis, testing his hypothesis and then using the evidence he discovered to support his…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays