BIOC54H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Medium Ground Finch, Lactose Intolerance, House Mouse
Document Summary
Another example includes bill size of ground finch in the galapagos who undergo evolutionary change annually. Annually in response to the changes in the resources available. When biologists wish to understand the ultimate reasons why an animal does something, they almost always try to come up with a working hypothesis that is consistent with natural selection theory. Some traits do not look especially likely to increase an individual"s reproductive success: male hanuman langurs expend much energy and time trying to kill the infants of the females that they live with in bands in northern india. Infanticidal males have to deal with female langurs which join forces to fight back in defense of their infants: a male risk injury when he tries to destroy a youngster. Infanticide may not be a product of natural selection but an abnormal, pathological response to overcrowding.
