I dont know why but I have always wondered why there were so many different kinds of animals in the world? Have you? If so what have you come up with?
2007-06-12 03:54:57 · 6 answers · asked by Mama 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
If you look at automobiles as an example, if you build a truck that is designed to be the best possible design for big and powerful, it cannot at the same time be fast, sleek, or small. If you build something that is intermediate to fast, sleek, and small, and big and powerful, it can be used for a lot of different things, but it is not the best vehicle at anything in particular. As you add different vehicle designs to the mix, there is always some other design that is better at some particular use or combination of uses, so automobile designers keep trying to develop new vehicles for these unexploited markets, and people keep buying new and different types of cars.
Evolution works similarly, in that unexploited niches are constantly emerging as environmental conditions change or new species colonize an area. Eventually, some random mutation will allow a organism to to become the best at exploiting a particular niche. The number of niches increases exponentially as new species are added, so there is a tenancy for a large number of species to develop in any particular environment.
You can also ask the question where there aren't more kinds of animals--why are there so few species living in any given time era, compared to all of the life forms that exist in the fossil record? Maybe there's only so many ways you can slice up a pie. There are principally about 4-5 trophic levels, and total productivity is limited by the sun through photosynthesis or by the availability of nutrients.
2007-06-12 05:04:01 · answer #1 · answered by formerly_bob 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The planet Earth is a very old place. I bet at the beginning, there were only a few species of animals. As time passed by, those few animals probably went through evolution, or the evolving of one animal into another. An example of this is the ape becoming into a human being.
Evolution is just a theory. Many take it offensive because it goes against religion, which believes that a god created every animal.
2007-06-12 04:06:09 · answer #2 · answered by kenneth y 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Specialization and niche selection account for a wide variety of animals. Take Darwin's finches, for example. Originally one species of finch that got blown offcourse and got stuck on the islands, they became adapted for the particular food on each island and developed into new species.
2007-06-12 04:48:12 · answer #3 · answered by biologist1968 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mutation and evolution
2007-06-12 04:04:03 · answer #4 · answered by ck 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God and his thing called evalotion
2007-06-12 05:04:37 · answer #5 · answered by DRAGON 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
evolution?
2007-06-12 03:57:33 · answer #6 · answered by jo d 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋