Evolution

Why did Darwin find tortoises so interesting Are humans really descended from ancient apes How did the peacock get its tail What might life look like elsewhere in the universe In this fascinating and highlyillustrated book, Gerard Cheshire tells the story of evolution, and plots the various devices by which we have all become the organisms we are today. With sections on convergence, sexual selection, epigenetics, and full appendices showing the tree of life.

• First published 2008 AD This edition Wooden Books Ltd 2008 AD Published by Wooden Books Ltd. 8A Mar
• To all who respect life ... in all its many forms Thanks to Peter Spring for edits and suggestions
• 1 INTRODUCTION There are few peoples on Earth who do not have a creation myth. The Native American
• 2 3 Lifes Great famiLy the fog rises Amidst the foggy ideas of past centuries there arose occasional
• 4 5 the Great idea eat, breed, adapt and pass it on In 1859, after over 25 years collecting specimen
• 6 7 LivinG Proof and dead ends In support of his evolutionary theory Darwin found important examples
• 8 9 the UnsUnG monk peas and their peculiar traits While Darwin was pondering over his mechanism, a
• 10 11 Chromosomes genes and DNA Towards the end of the 19th century, scientists began turning their
• 12 13 the Book of Life four letters, twenty words The genome of a species is the entire DNA sequence
• 14 15 a WorLd of variation how it all gets mixed up Darwins theory depended on a mechanism that coul
• 16 17 nUrtUrinG natUre Baldwinism, and the behavioral sieve In 1896 James Mark Baldwin 18611934 adva
• 18 19 ePiGenetiCs same genes, but different ones expressed In 1942 Conrad Hal Waddington 190575 desc
• 20 21 the red QUeen evolutionary arms race All species are in constant competition with others for r
• 22 23 sPeCiation dont play with those children, Rose When two or more groups of a species are separa
• 24 25 the miGration of Genes out of Africa How do the gene pools of a species behave over wide areas
• 26 27 initiation and CooPeration right from the start The origin of the first strand of DNA or RNA o
• 28 29 Parasitism and symBiosis the human question Many organisms develop relationships with others,
• 30 31 kin kindness all for one and one for all Many creatures perform seemingly selfless acts which
• 32 33 sexUaL seLeCtion the beautiful things creatures find attractive Sexual reproduction introduces
• 34 35 ConverGent evoLUtion inevitable solutions Variation generally produces evolutionary divergence
• 36 37 death and other helpful illnesses Death is something everyone can be sure of. However, cells
• 38 39 mimiCry and CamoUfLaGe the advantages they confer Many animals use natures own visual language
• 40 41 its imPossiBLe how does nature do it Opponents of evolutionary theory sometimes point to featu
• 42 43 memes selfreplicating thoughts and cultural viruses Using biological evolution to help better
• 44 45 aCCeLerated evoLUtion genetic engineering and selfevolved code Humans are Gaias best bet for c
• 46 47 extraterrestriaL Life likely or not There are approximately 100 trillion billion stars in the
• 48 49 the evoLvinG BioCosm and the cosmological anthropic principle The more we study the universe t
• 50 51 aPPendix i Prokaryotes The image opposite shows the family tree of life on earth. There are e
• 52 53 aPPendix ii Protists protists are either unicellular or multicellular organisms and are divid
• 54 55 aPPendix iii PLants The plant and animal kingdoms exist in dynamic equilibrium, relying on on
• 56 57 aPPendix iv animaLs Animals range from simple unicellular organisms to highly complex multice
• 58 aPPendix v PhyLoGeny of Life aPPendix vi GLossary Key mya million years ago tya thousand year