Evolution vs. Survival of the Fittest??

Question

Hello! I was just reading a question in the biology section on evolution... NOT talking about how the universe was created, just evolution in general. One person replied with a long, interesting, detailed answer about evolution and it got me to thinking: I'm no brainiac, but I wondered what the fundamental difference is between EVOLUTION and just plain SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST - being that those animals with the best physical or mental traits are the ones that continue to reproduce and breed. How are the two different? What makes something distiguishable as "EVOLUTION" having occured? I don't know much about either process - I'm interested in what you all have to say. Thanks!

Answer 1

Evolution is the process of change in a population.

"Survival of the fittest" is a catchphrase that people use to describe natural selection, which is the mechanism (that you described well) that *explains* evolution.

However, there is the danger that this catchphrase oversimplifies things. As you point out, what matters is not so much survival, as *reproduction* to pass on your genes.

The point (the difference) is that there are other things besides "survival of the fittest" that can drive evolution. E.g. those big tails on peacocks are probably bad for survival (easier targets for predators) ... but this is offset by the fact that the peahens think the big tail is 'hawt!' ... resulting in lots of little male peacocks who grow up to have dad's big tail. Also, artificial selection (a.k.a. selective breeding) can also produce evolution (although I also consider this a form of "survival of the fittest").

The other difference is that the word 'Evolution' can refer not only to the *process* of evolution, but to the overarching "Theory of Evolution" which holds that all life forms we see today are the result of evolution. I.e. there are people (although almost none of them are scientists), who accept "survival of the fittest" as a process ongoing in nature, but reject the Theory of Evolution that all life forms can be explained by this process. For example, they claim that this process cannot produce new species (which is false ... it can indeed produce new species).

However, this is not a controversy within science, much less within Biology. So the difference between 'Evolution' and 'survival of the fittest' is just that between a process and the main (but not the only) mechanism that explains that process.

Answer 2

Well I'm not too educated on the subject either, but lately I've been learning about it in school, and I think its incredibly interesting. From what I've learned, evolution IS survival of the fittest. Evolution, the changing of one species into another species, comes about by small, beneficial changes in the offspring of an animal. These changes build up until a new species is formed. So basically, they are the same thing. Survival of the fittest is simply a term used to define'evolution'.

Answer 3

hi. basically evolution takes place because of natural selection, which is somewhat similar to survival of the fittest. However, natural selection is the differential survival of organisms that differ in heritable charcteristics. Survival of the fittest , on the other hand, may not necessarily mean using heritable characteristics to survive but using acquired skills to survive.
You can distinguish that evolution has occurred when at least a population of organisms have changed in traits within a population in response to the pressures around them or when a new species is created.

Answer 4

"Survival of the Fittest" is a one-phrase description of Darwin's theory of the origin of species by natural selection (what we usually refer to today as evolution).

Darwin, however, was not the first guy to think of biological evolution. The idea had been floated before. Anyone familiar with agriculture or animal husbandry has seen evolution in action.

One evolutionary theory (which is today seen as rubbish) was that of Lamarck. He thought that evolution occured because animals changed during their lives and passed the changes to their offspring. Giraffes stretched to get at food and made their necks longer, so their offspring inherited the longer necks. You could lift weights and get strong and your children would be born stronger. At the time, this made lots of sense to people, but it betrays a lack of understanding of how heredity works.

Hope that sort of answers your question.

Answer 5

Survival of the fittest is a term usually used synonymously with natural selection, one of the selective inducements for evolution to occur, the other major one being sexual selection. Natural selection occurs when one individual's genetic material is passed on to the next generation, due to he/her having a trait which gives him an advantage over another.
For instance, two young apes (brothers) walk into a clearing, one is a slightly faster runner, the other slower, but a bit smarter (as occurs in all animals, including humans), a lion runs in at the other end of the clearing. The fast ape takes off, the smarter ape is about to be caught, but picks up a large stick and hits out at he lion. The lion, wanting a meal, not a fight, chases and catches the faster ape. Natural selection has occurred, the slower, smarter ape has survived, and it is his genes that will be passed on, not his brother's. His brother's line has been eliminated from the gene pool. The slower ape, while not as fast, has proved to be the most fit to survive in his current environment. Importantly, he will pass on in his genes the intelligence to use lateral thinking, which includes the ability to look around for alternatives in dangerous situations.
The other aspect to evolution is sexual selection, and is most easily demonstrated in birds, such as peacocks and birds of paradise. Peahens select mates based on display of peacock tail feathers and ritual displays etc, This has caused the male birds to develop elaborate tail feathers, even though it may increase his chances of being caught by a predator, simply because, without an elaborate "dress sense", he, and his genetic material won't be selected by the female, and hence won't make it into the next generation. Or to put it another way, he only exists because his father's genetic material was selected by a female on the basis of having a fine tail display. The females, on the other hand, are drab coloured, because they need to survive from predators by hiding.
So, evolution is change induced by a balance of natural selection and sexual selection. These changes have occurred over millions of years and have given rise to the diversity of animals alive now.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

basically evolution is a product of "survival of the fittest" since only those creatures with genetically strong traits live long enough to reproduce only their genese get passed on. to make a really simple analogy if brown eyes are a requirement for survival than people with blue eyes won't live long enough to reproduce. eventually people will evolve to not have blue eyes because that part of the gene pool will be gone.

Answer 7

im gonna explain it in simple terms as it is 11 o clock and im kinda sleepy but wanna score some points:

evolution is man evolved from apes.
survival of the fittest is that a specimen that is smarter or physically fitter will be more likely to survive than a stupid or physically challenged specimen.

a combo of both would be man came from the smartest and "jock-iest"/ most physically fit apes