2007-08-06 07:22:52 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Yes, but the different physical characteristics do not stop them from interbreeding, which is what I thought speciation disallows.
2007-08-06 07:31:15 · update #1
It could have happened. It's a possible explanation for what might have been "Homo floriensis," a population of small island-based humans.
It's unlikely to happen again. We have too much global travel.
2007-08-06 08:46:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it could given a few million years. We were no where near the million years when ships and airplanes were invented so until something happens to the technology that keeps people moving all over the world it can't happen.
Even if as of today, if something catastrophic happened to the transportation systems of the world, it would take a million or so years for some isolated small island population of people to speciate.
2007-08-06 07:48:40 · answer #2 · answered by Joan H 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes it can happen, because the same mechanisms that cause it within other animals (not to mention plants, fungi, and all other living organisms) are also found in us.
Will it happen? Probably not, and definitely not anytime soon. Thanks to technology and the social nature of our species, I couldn't foresee it happening any time within the next 1 million years. Things that could speed it up would be something that might cause a backslide of technology (devastating world war, natural disaster, or some other type of catastrophe).
2007-08-06 08:59:29 · answer #3 · answered by the_way_of_the_turtle 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can it? Are you kidding? It HAS happened. Take for instance people native to sweden, vs people native to the sahara vs people native to Tibet. Each of those people decended from a common ancestor yet they have developed differently to suit better their own environment. We can still breed between each other, but given another 10-50 thousand years, maybe we wouldnt be able to.
2007-08-06 07:33:26 · answer #4 · answered by billgoats79 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
certainly. It does look like in the forseeable future that this is not an option... there is no place on earth where geographic isolation would occur. However if we ever do become a star-faring peoples, it is inevitable.
2007-08-06 09:46:53 · answer #5 · answered by eastacademic 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes- look at all the genetic diversity that we have today. It is estimated that mankind began somewhere near Africa and has been moving outward ever since. Differences in climate brought about changes in skin, hair, and eye color.
2007-08-06 07:29:28 · answer #6 · answered by Lindsay O 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes
the problem is how to efectively contain humans in isolated geographic areas. They tend to roam a lot.
2007-08-06 07:26:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Neither, we evolved from a common ancestor of the ape.
2016-05-19 22:48:50 · answer #8 · answered by laurine 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋