People are up to a foot taller on average than in the middle ages. This can easily be verified by doing some research yourself. Wouldn't this be considered as an evolutionary trait in humans?
2007-01-12 02:35:40 · 7 answers · asked by meansawbean 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It's the middleagers were one foot shorter than us actually; we are roughly as tall as the ancients.
So it's a size come-back what's happening. This makes me believe that it was the middleagers' lifes wat was worse than ours; our lifes is not actually getting better; just think of junk food and stress.
2007-01-12 02:45:27 · answer #1 · answered by Emil Alexandrescu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the increase in average height seen in modern populations, especially in Europe and North America is due mostly to diet - specifically the ready access to massive amounts of protein during the growing years, and the overall increase in nutritional standards to the point that it is rare for those in First World nations to starve any more.
In fact, we get so much nutrition now that we have the opposite problem, where people are now getting so much food that the majority of North Americans are now 'overweight'.
That was something that just didn't happen in Iron Age, Medieval or even Renaissance agrarian societies.
Even hunter/gatherers don't get the amount and variety of foods that we do now.
So it's not a selective pressure that is driving the increase in size, but the fact that we're actually getting enough food to reach our full stature potential now.
2007-01-12 10:50:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The definition of evolution is "a change in a gene pool over time". And since there is no doubt that the human gene pool has changed over time, yes that is evolution.
2007-01-12 11:08:35 · answer #3 · answered by Take it from Toby 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's probably more due to improved diets. The human gene pool probably hasn't changed that much in the last 700 years (not enough time).
2007-01-12 10:39:30 · answer #4 · answered by ivorytowerboy 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, but a lot of it could be because of our western development, such as industrial revolution, technological, etc. I'm pretty sure people that still live tribal lifestyles are not as tall as those of us who live in Western civilization
2007-01-12 10:50:17 · answer #5 · answered by ztns9 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
evolution occurs when there is natural selection. ders no natural selection. and the pygmies are still the same height. lol. ders no evolution hmmmm well for the time being.
peace
ave moksha
2007-01-12 11:02:43 · answer #6 · answered by Arnaq 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes Humans are allot bigger,people are getting bigger
And we are not the only animals that are getting bigger.
2007-01-12 10:40:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋