Claim CB952:
An important element in an animal's struggle for existence is adaptability
to a varied diet. If, say, a bird depended for its existence on a diet of
one particular gnat, and that gnat disappeared, then the species of bird
would die of starvation. But evolution proposes that an ancestral wasp
with a varied diet evolved into species with very particular diets. Such
evolution would not be advantageous.
Source:
Fabre, J. Henri. 1921. A dig at evolutionists. In: Alexander Teixeira de
Mattos (transl.), More Hunting Wasps, New York: Dodd, Mead and
Company,
pp. 203-213.
Response:
- Evolution does not operate for the long-term benefit of the species.
Rather, it favors individuals which leave more surviving offspring,
regardless of the implications for the species as a whole. Individuals
which specialize on a particular diet often do better due to greater
efficiency in their area of specialization. For example, a wasp which
specializes on hunting only lycosid spiders might succeed in capturing
them 20 percent of the time, versus a 10 percent capture rate for the
generalist. That edge will make specialization an advantage as long as
there are plenty of spiders to eat. If the diet goes away, the species
which feeds only on it will go extinct, but evolution does not have the
foresight to consider that. This would be one case in which evolution
is not the same as survival of the fittest.
created 2005-5-24
