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Homework problem, please help!

Homework problem, please help!

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1. if you cut a rat's tail and let it breed, and then cut their offsprings' tails for 20 consecutive generations, what would happen to the length of their tail.

2. If you feed dogs with vegetables such as carrots and its offsprings for 20 generations, how would that change its diet?

how would your answers fit with the darwinian view?

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google up "lamarckism."

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Originally posted by EmLasker
1. if you cut a rat's tail and let it breed, and then cut their offsprings' tails for 20 consecutive generations, what would happen to the length of their tail.

2. If you feed dogs with vegetables such as carrots and its offsprings for 20 generations, how would that change its diet?

how would your answers fit with the darwinian view?
If I cut your leg off and then let you breed, and then cut off your offsprings leg for 20 generations, what would happen to the length of their legs?


*Don't confuse genetics with dumb experiments

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Hello.πŸ™‚ Cutting the tails off of the rats wouldn't do anything other than anger the rats. Injuries aren't genetic characteristics, so they won't be passed to offspring. Same with the diet of specific dogs. Dogs will already eat pretty much anything that they can find. How natural selection works is very simple. There are always random genetic mutations occuring. Most of them are a liability, some are neutral as far as survival goes, but every now and then one comes along that somehow slightly enhances a creature's ability to survive long enough to reproduce and pass that characteristic along to it's offspring. When the environment changes, for whatever reason, the members of a species that are slightly better adapted to survival will pass that along. The ones less adapted to survival will begin to disappear. The experiments you describe wouldn't have any impact on whether or not the animal would be allowed to reproduce. You would get better results by measuring the tails of the rats and just allowing the ones with the shortest tails to reproduce.

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what if the females start to prefer the tailless rats?

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Originally posted by EmLasker
1. if you cut a rat's tail and let it breed, and then cut their offsprings' tails for 20 consecutive generations, what would happen to the length of their tail.

2. If you feed dogs with vegetables such as carrots and its offsprings for 20 generations, how would that change its diet?

how would your answers fit with the darwinian view?
How can a rats tail breed?

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i hate genetics, don't ya?

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Originally posted by adramforall
How can a rats tail breed?
Wha! My tail bleeds all the time.

GRANNY.

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Originally posted by Djinc
Hello.πŸ™‚ Cutting the tails off of the rats wouldn't do anything other than anger the rats. Injuries aren't genetic characteristics, so they won't be passed to offspring. Same with the diet of specific dogs. Dogs will already eat pretty much anything that they can find. How natural selection works is very simple. There are always random genetic mutations occuri ...[text shortened]... ing the tails of the rats and just allowing the ones with the shortest tails to reproduce.
One of my two talents is a Masters Degree in Biochemistry, so if I may be so patronising, this is very eloquently explained😏

Just trying to remember what the other talent was..

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Originally posted by Djinc
Hello.πŸ™‚ Cutting the tails off of the rats wouldn't do anything other than anger the rats. Injuries aren't genetic characteristics, so they won't be passed to offspring. Same with the diet of specific dogs. Dogs will already eat pretty much anything that they can find. How natural selection works is very simple. There are always random genetic mutations occuri ...[text shortened]... ing the tails of the rats and just allowing the ones with the shortest tails to reproduce.
To develop your second point slightly, the sudden unavailability of meat and abundance of vegetable matter might count as a significant environmental pressure, which could impact on existing genetic diversity within the population of dogs.
Obviously over 20 generations, one would expect very little observable change, but I guess theoretically, over a longer period, this experiment could change the genetic make up of the population significantly. This would be because there would be a selective advantage to individuals who by chance, had better tolerance to the radically changed diet on offer - maybe even benefited from it. At the same time, one would expect the general population to suffer, as the diet is so distinctly different to the one on which the species evolved. Such conditions either accelerate evolution or lead to mass extinction.

My Mum agrees
πŸ™‚πŸ™‚

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Originally posted by EmLasker
1. if you cut a rat's tail and let it breed, and then cut their offsprings' tails for 20 consecutive generations, what would happen to the length of their tail.

2. If you feed dogs with vegetables such as carrots and its offsprings for 20 generations, how would that change its diet?

how would your answers fit with the darwinian view?
You know the college policy on homework as regards obtaining online help.
Report to my office in the morning.


Mr Squelch MA (Cantab)
Headmaster.

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I think he's in high school.

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Originally posted by MrHand
I think he's in high school.
Methinks he's in elEMentary school.

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Originally posted by Policestate
To develop your second point slightly, the sudden unavailability of meat and abundance of vegetable matter might count as a significant environmental pressure, which could impact on existing genetic diversity within the population of dogs.
Obviously over 20 generations, one would expect very little observable change, but I guess theoretically, over a lo ...[text shortened]... Such conditions either accelerate evolution or lead to mass extinction.

My Mum agrees
πŸ™‚πŸ™‚
Hi again.πŸ™‚ Hypothetically, that would be plausible, but, as you know, an overabundance of vegatable matter would also eventually lead to an abundance of herbivores in the region. If there's a niche, somebody's going to slip into it, and Herbivore= Dinner for Predatory CarnivoreπŸ˜€

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I wouldn't have thought that Emmanual Lasker required any assistance with his homework. From what I've been able find, he seems like a pretty sharp individual. πŸ˜€