2007-06-01 14:52:49 · 22 answers · asked by sahara_springs 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
One species does not evolve into another.
There are changes WITHIN a species brought on by enviroment...But a white rabbit and a hare are both still rabbits....an Arctic fox and a red fox are still both foxes....and so on and so forth
Those who believe this actually happens have more faith than many Christians I know
2007-06-01 15:01:58 · answer #1 · answered by kenny p 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Remove the word "suddenly" and you have a valid question. The answer put simply is this.... One species evolves into another through a series of accumulated changes over great periods of time (millions of years) these adaptations are small but when you add them all up over time they become so big as to alter one species so much from its original form that it cannot reproduce with the original species it was derived from. Take dogs for example, domestic dogs are a subspecies of wolf. Humans took some wolves out of the wild about 15-100,000 years ago.. in that time these "wolves" changed so much from their original species that they now differ by 0.02% mtDNA, they also have major behavioural, developmental and physical differences. If we continue to keep dogs seperate from wolves, the divergence will only get greater with time until they may not be a subspecies anymore, but a whole new species. Dogs and wolves can still mate and reproduce viable offspring, but with time this may change. However there is nothing "sudden" about the process, it took around 100,000 years just to produce a change of genetics by 0.02% in dogs, Coyotes have been seperate for quite a bit longer and differ from wolves by about 4%, these changes will keep adding up and keep increasing, but it doesnt ever happen suddenly.
2007-06-01 15:22:39 · answer #2 · answered by Kelly + Eternal Universal Energy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm going to take a different tactic and tell you that occasionally species do evolve suddenly.
Before I start, I know that people will tell me that this is an exception to the general rule.
Many plants, especially ferns, can change their ploidy number (the number of sets of chromosomes they have) in as little as one generation. When this does happen, you suddenly have a new species as now, the parent plants are no longer able to interbreed with the founder plant.
2007-06-01 15:17:41 · answer #3 · answered by skeptic 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is a biology question, not a religion one. Species do not SUDDENLY evolve into one another. That is why we have seen dramatic changes over the course of human history, but only have relatively limited examples of speciation, and not developments between the larger branches of the evolutionary tree. Our information about those developments comes from genetics and the fossil record.
2007-06-01 14:57:45 · answer #4 · answered by jamesfrankmcgrath 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
'Species' is not a well-defined term. The best one seems to be 'two things that cannot reproduce are of different species'. However, there are many 'ring species' in which many in the sequence can reproduce but others can't - like several types of gulls. So you don't become something that you can't reproduce with in one generation, but over many, you become different enough so that eventually you can't reproduce any longer. And in the case of the 'ring speicies', all the intermediate steps are still around.
2007-06-01 15:08:14 · answer #5 · answered by eri 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Evolution is not sudden. Over several generations, natural selection will allow for the most favorable of genetic traits to survive whereas the less favorable ones will eventually disappear. This, at times, will result in a new species.
2007-06-01 14:57:38 · answer #6 · answered by simply_sarah_1981 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Okay, pay very close attention to the following, creationist straw man argument builders:
If one species transformed into another in one generation, it would be, without a doubt, the GREATEST evidence
AGAINST!!!
evolution ever found. It would rock the Theory of Evolution to its core, and more likely than not ultimately cause it to be thrown out completely. Hear that, creationists? The lack of this event you so haughtily claim disproves evolution is actually proof that evolution is RIGHT, not proof that it's wrong. You might want to learn about the theory from scientific literature, not your church, in order to avoid future embarassment of the same "kind." (pun intended)
So, the real answer to your question--we haven't observed that happen because evolution is correct in predicting that it would not happen.
2007-06-01 14:56:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 8⤊ 0⤋
good question, If one species evolves into another and some of that species stayes the same would there not be species caught in the middle right now and if so where are they? wouldn't evolution be a on going process?
2007-06-01 15:08:31 · answer #8 · answered by firefly 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Slowly over millions of years tiny changes build up until a new species results.
2007-06-01 14:58:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It DOESN'T happen suddenly.
It happens slowly over a very long time, through different variations in genetics over centuries.
Why would you think it just suddenly happens?
2007-06-01 15:13:49 · answer #10 · answered by meg3f 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋