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Mammals On Islands Evolve Three Times Faster Than Mainland Counterparts

Posted Sep 21, 2006 at 06:57AM by Alaric S. Listed in: Paleontology
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evolution


Redpath Museum paleontologist Virginie Millien has evidence to support the theory that isolated environments such as islands speed up evolution. In her research, she says island mammals evolve about three times faster than their mainland counterparts.

"We know that strange things happen on islands - elephants become dwarves, for instance -  but what we didn't know for sure is how fast it happens," explained Millien, "Everybody since Darwin has assumed that it must happen very fast, because it's so shocking to see something like a one-metre-high elephant."

Among the factors that contribute to island mammals hyper-evolution include isolation, climate differences, absence of natural predators. Her observation is based on her analysis of the evolutionary rates of 88 island mammal species.

The idea of evolution has existed long before Charles Darwin controversial "Origin of Species." Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander and Epicurus and Indian philosophers such as Patańjali were early proponents of the idea. However, modern, scientific theories of evolution were proposed until the 18th and 19th centuries, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Alfred Russel Wallace and, of course, Charles Darwin.

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