Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Theories Of Evolution
Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, born on August 1, 1744 served in the army before being discharged, and later starting his scientific career as a botanist. Lamarck studied medicine and botany, at which he rapidly became expert, later publishing a series of books on invertebrate zoology and paleontology. Of these, Philosophie zoologique, published in 1809, most clearly states Lamarck's theories of evolution. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had put forth a theory that laid the early foundations for the study of evolution. His theory is alternatively referred to as the theory of transformation or simply Lamarckism. Lamarck proposed that the positive evolutionary changes result from changing needs or changes to the environment. …show more content…
Basically, when environments changed, organisms had to change their behavior to survive. The classic example used to explain the concept of use and disuse is the elongated neck of the giraffe. According to Lamarck's theory, if a giraffe stretched its neck for leaves, a "nervous fluid" would flow into its neck and make it longer. Its offspring would inherit the longer neck, and continued stretching would make it longer still over several …show more content…
He came to believe that species survived through a process called "natural selection," where species that successfully adapted to meet the changing requirements of their natural habitat thrived, while those that failed to evolve and reproduce died off. This is very different from Lamarck's incorrect idea that the environment altered the shape of individuals and that these acquired changes were then inherited.
Very often, Darwin's use of the phrase "survival of the fittest" is misunderstood. Many people assume that "the fittest" refers to the strongest, biggest, or smartest organism, however, from an evolutionary perspective, the fittest individuals are simply the ones who have the combination of traits that allow them to survive and produce more offspring that in turn survive to reproduce. What makes an individual fit all depends on the environment at the time and the combination of traits that are most suited to flourishing in
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