Can you answer this science question briefly?

Question

My cousin has this question for his science class's discussion tomorrow.. What do you think is the answer?

You decide to find a mysterious fabled creature, a type of lizard who lives in a large field in Asia. When you get there, you find not 1, but 2 species of the lizard there. You find that a very large crevice had opened up along one small part of the valley, not allowed anything to cross it. In the isolated part of the valley, you find that the lizards are much bigger and eat the tree's bark (they have something in their bodies that allows them to digest the bark). In the other are, you find smaller lizards that cannot eat the tree bark, but rather eat flowers.

How is it possible that the 1 species diverged into the 2 found today in the field?

Answer 1

Da lizards were separated by the crevice and had to adapt to their different environments. That's how one species was able to digest the tree bark, since it was there for them to eat. While the others never developed the genetics necessary to digest the bark, since they had no bark but flowers on their side. Evolution, the adaptation to environment.

Answer 2

The stock answer is that the original species evolved, where one part of the valley had trees and the other part had flowers. However, if the original species was a flower-eater, it would have died in the forest area, and vica versa. Apperantly the orignial species could tolerate either trees or flowers, and when the valley split, evolved offspring that were more adapt at the plant matter found where the lizard was.

Answer 3

Differential evolution frequently arises from separation of populations. There are many examples; the biota of Australia, which separated from the Pangaea supercontinent before the other continents broke off, is one case; you know about koalas, kangaroos, eucalyptus, and many other species that are found there but not elsewhere. Another example: fish, living in caves in California, have atrophied eyes; they separated from the original fish generations ago. Back to your question: the crevice caused a separation of population, and environmental conditions on the two sides differed. So mutations, in conjunction with natural selection, caused differences to arise in the two populations. The resulting populations may, or may not, have diverged enough to be no longer cross-fertile.

Answer 4

It's either find something you can eat, or die of starvation. Adaptation in the extreme can mean survival or not.
Deer, in the depths of winter, strip trees bare of bark if that's all they can find to eat. And it's just one more reason why hunting is good for nature. Fewer deer starve to death, fewer trees are killed by starving deer.

Answer 5

Evolution is chaotic and unpredictable. Simple as that.