Evolution is quicker than they thought

[xoxoxoBruce]

Samoan butterflies quickly evolve to avoid extinction .
It appears that evolution can take place much faster than the scientists realized before now.

They said the butterflies' tale is the fastest example of natural selection observed to date and shows evolution can happen quickly when the stakes are high.

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"This is one of the most clear and fastest cases of evolution under natural selection," said Sylvain Charlat of University College London, whose study appears in the journal Science.

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What is clear, they said, is the repopulation of male butterflies illustrates rapid natural selection, a process in which traits that help a species survive become more prominent in a population.

Natural selection typically moves very slowly, sometimes over hundreds of years, they said, but when under severe attack, this process was accelerated.

The more we know, the more we know we don't know.