• Question: Do animals evolve quickwer than us and will they one day become mutant and SCARY? :S

    Asked by johnfraser to Zara, Edd on 23 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by animelvr7.
    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Evolution works when we pass on our genes to the next generation and possible mutations occur at this stage. Hence any animal that reproduces quicker than we do will evolve quicker than us. On the other hand, we are evolving quicker than animals that reproduce slower than us. The other thing that can increase the rate of evolution is environmental pressure. For example, in the Irish Sea cod fishery there is a very high amount of fishing and scientists have seen that the population has changed to mature and breed at an earlier age. This is a consequence of selection – those fish that take too long to mature and breed will be fished before they get a chance – hence only those that grow and breed quickly pass on their genes to the next generation.

      Lots of animals have mutations – these are what causes animals to change and evolve. If a mutation is useful to the animal then that animal is more likely to survive and pass on it’s genes so that the mutation is carried on in the next generation. If the mutation is not useful or a hinderance then the animal may not survive to pass on its genes and the mutation will then be lost from the population.

      Many animals already are scary! 😉 http://www.flickr.com/photos/allan_bruce/398032677/

    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi johnfraser!

      Edd has already explained that any animal that can reproduce faster than us, will evolve faster… so I thought I’d look for some examples! The fastest evolving animal that we know of is a kind of lizard called the ‘tuatara’ (picture: ) which is found in New Zealand.

      Scientists extracted DNA from the bones of an 8000-year old tuatara and compared it with DNA from today. They found that the DNA has evolved at a rate faster than any other animal! Strangely though, the animal hasn’t changed much physically at all! There’s more info here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080331-tuatara-evolution.html

      Will a scary mutant animal evolve… have you heard of the black squirrel? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3340823/Mutant-threatening-to-wipe-out-grey-squirrel.html OK, it’s not scary to us – but maybe to the grey/red squirrels!

      I think as humans we’re more scared about disease than animals: viruses like avian flu evolve rapidly and may eventually evolve into a form that can infect humans.

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