What Evolution is NOT

I didn't have any pictures of Evolution so here are some pictures of Darwin's House!!

Mandi Allen

Biology Paper

Harry the Hungry Hammoth

Lonely beneath the tree attempting to get out of the rain sits Harry the hungry Hammoth. What’s a Hammoth you ask? Well, if I knew, it would be much easier to explain. He’s 12 feet tall, has arms that fall to the floor, legs as thin as toothpicks, his eyes the size of peanuts, and a mouth that stretches across his entire face (and this is without smiling). “When am I going to find someone like me?” Harry wonders, as rain pours down his face. What could have happened to me that made me so different from the humans?

“Oh pick me! Pick me! I know! I know!” Kevin calls out, waving his arms above his head, using all his resistance to stay put in his chair. “Ms. Sheridan, pick me!” Ms. Sheridan of course picks Kevin. With full preparation Kevin breathes in all he can, filling his lungs to the fullest, and off he went. “Last night while watching cartoon network, I thought to myself why am I watching cartoon network when I could be looking up stuff on Wikipedia? I tuned off my TV, ran towards the computer, missed a step, fell, got back up, and finally made it to the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” The computer was on and there it was across the entire screen in big, bold letters, the mysterious word…EVOLUTION.” Kevin stopped, and again took in another breath, even bigger then the one before and continued. “Evolution is where you can pick your own genes, everyone before him must have picked all the good genes so Harry the Hammoth ended up with the bad ones.” Kevin, panting because he is out of breath, smiled with the satisfaction of his answer. “ Kevin you are 100% right” Ms. Sheridan replies still in awe by the extremely enormous lungs Kevin had in him. “Let’s see what happens to Harry.”

Sitting alone feeling sorry for himself, Harry discovers something unusual, something different. As he bends forward to see what it is, it runs away into the bushes ahead. “Come back little guy, don’t be afraid, all I want is a friend.” Waiting for a response, Harry stares at the bushes; nothing moved or made a sound. Harry sat back down under his tree and began to cry. “Why does no one like me?” he asked as tears stream down his face. “ I know I am scary looking, but I am a nice guy.” Harry feels something touch his hand and there it was, a round yellow ball. “ “What are you?” Harry asks, “and why have you decided to come sit by me?” “I am a Prituni and my name is Penelope,” says the round yellow ball, “I have come to sit by you because I am also in need of a friend.” “Why do you have no friends?” asked Harry.

“I have lost all of my kind to Bald Eagles, they spot us out so easily because of our color, I am the only one left. I think it is because my fur is made out of spikes when everyone else was soft.”

“Oh Ms. Sheridan I know why this happened! I know! Please, please let me share!” once again Kevin waits anxiously in his seat to be called on. Ms. Sheridan calls on Kevin and allows him to share. “ This is because of natural selection and survival of the fittest.” “Penelope is one of natures elect and that is why she is the only left. She is the elect because her skin is made out of spikes rather than fur. So when the eagle comes to get her, her pointy spikes hurt it. So the eagle chases her species down and eats them all!” He paused for a short, cackle, “Mauh ha ha ha. So now Penelope is the only one left.”

There was a short pause as Ms. Sheridan stared at Kevin in awe, or shock, Kevin wasn’t sure.

“Hold it right there,” shouts Sarah, “Penelope couldn’t be different from the rest of her family. This would be contradicting heredity traits. If neither of her parents have spikes, why does she? Inheritable traits are passed down from one generation to the next, what about DNA? Ah, I am confused… what am I saying? I don’t know what is going on… I don’t like this story.”  

Brother Kevin sighs, thinking he is Mr. know it all. “Duh! that is why we have the process called mutation. DNA can change through mutation producing new alleles. If a mutation occurs within a gene, the new allele may affect the trait that the gene controls, alternating the phenotype of the organism.”

 “Oh okay I get it,” Sarah explains.

“No, you don’t,”  Kevin says, shaking his head. “This is far beyond your understanding. No only can evolution change a species, but it can occur sporadically. Have you ever heard of the mountain thing? That’s bogus. You don’t need to separate a species, just hang one upside down and subject it to a new type of lifestyle. “

Sarah is now even more confused than before.

Mrs. Sheridan: “Alright, alright, you know what you are both wrong but I hate this story anyways,” she says as she throws the book to the ground. “You guys are explaining what evolution is not. Evolution can’t produce different types of species in one family, evolution just can’t. You can’t change the species like that, the change must occur over time. There’s influential variables such as breeding and natural separations like mountains that can occur to influence the species. We’re done here. And Harry the Hammoth lived happily ever after.”