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A correspondent provides this link to a BBC story suggesting that cats are evolving to better manipulate people. Nezumi-chan is probably the pinnacle of feline evolution then, since, as wagimoko is fond of reminding me, she's got me wrapped around her paw. But how could one not respond to those big green eyes, that plaintive meowing, that soft, furry body rubbing up against my legs, the nuzzling of my feet...hmm, now that I think about it, that's what the article says they're evolving to do. On a more serious note, I think that Dr. Bradshaw has but a shaky grasp of evolution. The article isn't discussing deliberate artificial selection -- the breeding of cats to produce one with a more pleasant meow. It's talking about honest-to-Heaven evolutionary selection. He thinks that
The idea that a female would go up to a male in a back alley somewhere and say, 'could I hear your miaow to see if the kittens you father will be appealing to people', couldn't happen. But, of course, neither do peahens tell peacocks, "Spread that tail, buster, so that I can judge your condition from it". Nonetheless, the peacocks with the best tails are also likely to be the healthiest and strongest; mating with them is more likely to produce strong, healthy chicks. Likewise, the kittens with the most appealing meows are more likely to acquire people (or be acquired by them -- I'm not entirely sure how this works) who will provide with food, shelter, and medical care. Evolution is a matter of time and numbers. There always the chance that that peacock with the glorious tail carries a recessive gene that will result in dead-in-shell embryos; there's always the chance that that cat with the seductive cry will be run over by a car. The average organism, by definition, produces exactly two offspring that themselves live to breed; a trait that raises that average even to 2.01 offspring will, over a few hundred generations, make a big difference. John "Akatsukami" Braue Thursday, May 23, 2002 |
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