The Classical vs. Evolutionary Definition of Homology Classically, homology meant similarity of structure and position (e.g., bone patterns), not descent. However, Darwin claimed that homologies proved ‎common ancestry. He wrote in On the Origin of Species: “What can be more curious than ‎that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, ‎the paddle…

What is natural selection? According to Oxford Languages, natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. Meaning those less well adapted die out. In the introduction to On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote, “I am fully convinced that ‎species are not immutable.” He continued, “Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural ‎Selection has…

Darwin insisted that new variations, the raw materials for natural selection, originated ‎without purpose or direction, but he did not know their source. In his book On the Origin of Species, he started chapter 5 with this: “I HAVE hitherto sometimes spoken as if the variations...were due to chance. This, of course, is a wholly incorrect expression, but it serves to acknowledge plainly our…

What is Sympatric speciation?‎ ‎National Geographic says, “Speciation is how a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and develops its own unique characteristics.” Sympatric speciation is the “development of many similar species in a single habitat, each with a different specialization.” [1] A) What is a…