Myths and misconceptions about evolution - Alex Gendler

How does evolution really work? Actually, not how some of our common evolutionary metaphors would have us believe. For instance, it's species, not individual organisms, that adapt to produce evolution, and genes don't "want" to be passed on -- a gene can't want anything at all! Alex Gendler sets the record straight on the finer points of evolution.

Lesson by Alex Gendler, animation by Giant Animation Studios.

[qaddams]

the giraffe's face when she said "reproduction" lol

[sarahc]

75% of the comments are about how humans didn't evolve from apes and 15% is other science things 10% is just giraffe

[pollysmith]

I loved the smile on the giraffes face when reproduction ws mentioned

[stardust]

One way to understand Evolution is to first understand “Artificial Selection”. Wolves and Dogs are descended from common ancestors (which looked more like modern wolfs than dogs). Over many generations, Humans selected the “favourable” traits (e.g., long shiny fur, or stocky legs etc) to produce the many different types / breeds of modern dogs that we have today. The keyword here is “over many generations”. There are modern dogs that, of course, are still very much wolve-like in appearance (e.g., Huskies, German Shepherd etc). Some dog breeds are much less wolf-like in appearance (Chihuahua, Shih Tzu etc) as they have been artificially selected for their small size and “cute” traits. So why is it known as artificial selection? This is because the Human (the dog breeders) are the ones determining which individual dogs they would prefer to produce offsprings, thereby continuing the genes they would like to retain. Prior to this, it is also important to understand the idea of Variation. This means that in a litter of puppies, not every puppy is physically identical (even though they may look identical to the untrained eyes). Some puppies have slightly longer legs, some shorter legs. Very small differences, but, yes, the differences are there. It is due to this physical variations that the breeders (humans) select which dogs possess the traits he wants, thus the term “Artificial Selection”. This Selection process is repeated over many generations and the result is the modern dog breeds we have today.

Once we understood Artificial Selection, it will be easy to understand Natural Selection. In Natural Selection, Mother Nature (instead of Human) is the factor deciding which traits survive through the generations. How? One example is Food Source. Many species of birds have developed the ability to swim to obtain their food (Adaptability). One pre-requisite of aquatic birds is having water-proof feathers. In this case, this is the “Favourable Trait”. One group of birds may live nearer to the seasides and Individual birds with more waterproof feathers is seen by Mother Nature as a “favourable trait”. And so individual birds with this trait has a much higher chance of survival and passing on this gene to the next generations. This is Adaptation. It has to be highlighted that Adaptation takes place over many generations. Physical Adaptations (e.g., change in body shapes) DO NOT take place in just one generation. In other words, an individual animal will not change physically to obtain that trait in its lifetime, unless it’s metamorphosis which is a totally different thing. We also observed this in rabbits in deserts and rabbits in cold countries. The long ears in rabbits act as effective heat radiators. So the rabbits living in deserts adapted to the environment (over many generations) by developing very long and erect ears. But rabbits living in cold countries tends to have shorter ears (some even have lop ears). All animals (and yes, that includes humans) are still in the midst of evolution. Evolution is a very slow on-going process. It will never be “complete”, as change is the only constant. We can see this fact more prominently in the seals / walruses. Their ancestors are land animals, but their body shapes are evidence that they are in the midst of “transition” from land animals to aquatic animals, as their main source of food is in the sea. Of course, we cannot see an appreciable change in their appearances in our lifetime, as the change is happening too slowly over many generations. So presently, we can only imagine the current physical appearances of seals/walruses as being “frozen-in-time”, as with the rest of the millions of species of animals currently living on this planet Earth. And do appreciate their beauty in their current physical form (and the diversity of the Tree of Life), as they will never be the same again one million years from now.

[kellyrobinson]

Why did you end with the monkey to human picture?!?! That perpetuates the biggest misconception about evolution!!

[omershaik]

"survival of the fittest" was never supposed to be about fitness like bigger muscle or something like that, but about fitting to the sorrounding area. darwin knew that.

[slack_cactus]

Scroll down for the standard YouTube experience

[beelzzebub]

We were taught "Survival of the best fitted" not "Survival of the fittest" - this minor difference helps to clear up any confusion around the word fittest 👍

[CovaCata]

That is the CUTEST photoreceptor cell i've ever seen <3

[DracoonianDevil]

Came here for the comments, was not dissapointed.

[raptorcmn]

The hard part to explain to people is typically that mutations occur randomly and not intentionally. I'm glad this video addressed this first as it's likely the biggest misconception out there. It's hard for some people to wrap their brain around the idea that species don't adapt as they need to and that the adaptations occur accidentally and randomly. Some people just don't want to accept that, but they'll come around.

[maryna.angelpa]

It's sad to see that many people refuse to believe in evolution or has the wrong perception about it.

[MrDexter]

Regarding evolution as an adaptation, there actually is a new field of science that may support that. It's called epi-genetics, and in a nutshell it suggests that the manner in how you live your life can affect your future offspring. Example, if you don't have a genetic predisposition for obesity, however you become obese for most of your life, your kids will have a greater likelihood of being obese too. And that is completely independent on how you raise them. Their genetic makeup is physically altered because of your lifestyle.

Regarding evolution as survival of the fittest, the video is correct. The term "fittest" is relative. When I was in college, I always wondered why didn't all animals adapt high intelligence like humans. Wouldn't it be advantageous if all animals on the planet were smart? The answer is no, and for two reasons. One, having a big brain consumes a lot of calories. That is a big commitment for an animal to have a big brain. The human brain consumes 20% of the caloric intake. Reason two, many animals survive just fine being stupid. Sharks, horseshoe crabs, alligators and mosquitoes have stayed almost the same for millions of years without the need to evolve.

[AlejandroCervantes]

Perpetuating the "step-by-step" "progression" idea is kind of problematic. Species change and diverge, they don't progress in unity. That seemingly small error can be turned into ammo for creationists.

[alexx.]

What people are forgetting is that EVOLUTION IS NOT RANDOM. What mutations appear are random, but what organisms survive are not.

[srimansrini]

Evolutionary theory explained in simple terms. This can be considered as basic intro part for the Evolutionary Theory and Misconceptions.

[Duskmelt]

Another BIG myth people have about evolution: humans evolved from apes. We didn't. Humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor.

So if anyone asks you "if evolution is true, why are apes still around, " please correct them.

[codyblane]

Humans didn't come from gorillas though (at the end). We evolved from extinct, non-gorilla ape-like creatures.

[Cemhta]

Im glad you guys improved your videos so much over the years; not that this is a "bad" video, but the difference between this video and a recent one is very notorious.

[cephastanlijie]

Thank goodness you've made this video; I've been trying to explanation how evolution works to my parents who had most of the misconception on the theory of evolution. Thank You.