7 replies to this topic

[GhostShark]

I was reading about certain cryptids which have human like qualities and i began to ponder if that if some of these cryptids are actually relatives of us or relatives of a commonly known species. E.g. Lizard Men.
What are your thoughts on the connection between evolution and cryptology?

[Althalus]

I'll certainly go along with the veiw that some cryptozoological creatures are evolutionary offshoots of humanity, where nature takes a hand at altering certain things of certain creatures to see what will happen.  This sort of thing happens all the time in the wild, so why not with some of the cryptids?

[Mentalcase]

I wonder what pollution will do to evolving species in the near and far future. I can only imagine that the mutations would be horrendous.    

[Seraphina]

Pollution doesn't usually create mutations...in fact it limits variety, rather than adds to it. I'm more worried about what it's going to do to the number of species, rather than what it's going to create if things go much longer unchanged.

It's not a pleasant thought to wonder if, one day, pollution will get so bad that only rat tailed maggots will be able to survive   

[Mentalcase]

Pollution will mutate an evolving creature. Anything toxic will. I realize it isn't much of a worry now, but 50-100 years down the road, I can almost guarantee that there will be mutation.

[Seraphina]

Adaptation and mutation are very different...what you're talking about is natural selection. Mutation is when the nature of an organisms chromosomes is altered, not when it actually adapts to fit it's niche in any given environment.

Then again, when you think about it, we're all mutant in some way, shape or form Polution certainly does limit variety though, as it limits the expressed characteristics of a species that can survive in those conditions. That's why fish die in polution...there's yet to be a mutation of fish that can survive without oxygen in the water

[bigdog112]

[Seraphina]

hmm...not sure...the thing about mutation is that it's a one of flaw in the genetic characteristics. A mole (as in those horrible little things that you sometimes get on your skin) is a mutation, for example. It's not actually what an organism is supposed to be like, and more often than not, they're either very rare...you're unlikely to find a mutation that will change a creature's genetic structure so much that it could miraculously survive in toxic conditions. The effects are usually detrimental.

Natural selection, however, is the process that works upon natural characteristics of an organism...variation exists as a part of nature, and those who's characteristics are more suited to their environment are better suited to survive there, and pass on their genes to the next generation...thus, those genes for surviving will be more and more expressed as the generations go on, and those without them wither and die.

A high pollution environment would have a hand in the course a species took...but no more than any other environment. Every niche involves this 'survival of the fittest' system (except among humans, who seem to have eliminated it...which is probably why our evolution will be halted for the forseeable future...which isn't a huge problem, until the chimps catch up ).

Of course, you then have to remember that nature wouldn't have much to work with, as a high pollution environment would kill most organisms long before their gene pool had specialised to survive in it.