Quote:
Originally Posted by AzTeK
Is there a difference between evolution and adaptation? Most evolutionary transformations come out of the necessity to adapt to a new environment - like my example with the polar and brown bears.
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Well yes, there is, at least a difference between Lamarck's and Darwin's. Lamarck's theory, to use a simple example was that Giraffe's started with short necks and their necks grew over time as they stretched to reach to leaves of the trees. Darwin stated that there were giraffes with both long and short necks and short necked giraffes died out because they couldn't reach the leaves.
Darwin's theory is that the more adapted will survive better. The best known evidence is that of moths. During the industrial revolution, it was seen that white moths survived better in the wild whilst black moths survived better in the cities. Now, neither of them were adaptations, each had the genes to become either black or white but predators were able to pick off whites moths easier in the cities and black moths easier in the wild, therefore the other would flourish much better.