2007-03-02 18:44:34 · 5 answers · asked by X&Y 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The slow ones got eaten.
That may sound flip but it's 100% true. Animals that depend on flight for survival have at least one very keen sense like smell, sight or hearing and the ability to run fast.
In general predictors only take one from a herd at a time, therefore we can infer that Greg the Gazelle's ancestors all could run faster than someone else.
If all of Greg's ancestors were fast, it is genetically probable he will be as fast or faster than his ancestors.
Gary
2007-03-02 18:53:31 · answer #1 · answered by Gary 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gazelles are the preferred prey of cheetahs which are the fastest land carnivores but can only maintain short bursts of speed. There will be selection pressure favouring faster young gazelles which are the main targets for the big cats which means that those faster gazelles that survive can breed and pass on their genes that encode for larger fast twitch muscles in the leg etc ... which leads to the ability to running fast over time increasing over the generations. Unfortunately, selection pressure works for the cheetah population as well so an even better question is: how fast can cheetahs and gazelles become through coevolution ?
2007-03-02 20:00:27 · answer #2 · answered by Eoas 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because predators have devleloped the ability to run faster over shorter distances.
2007-03-02 18:54:57 · answer #3 · answered by welder guy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
darwin's idea of survival of the fittest .. read like 4 books for AP biology about it .. good idea .. all the animals that weren't "up to par" so to speak died .. and those who made it .. are around today ..
2007-03-02 19:44:32 · answer #4 · answered by CoachAutumn 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they have it in their legs.. y dont u just look at the pictures
2007-03-10 05:58:07 · answer #5 · answered by Nutz43 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋