Research- Theory of Evolution

Theory of Evolution 

I wanted to research into the theory of evolution as it holds some relevance to my project. Mainly due to the fact that many of the human population own dogs today. Yet many people forget that they're defended from wolves. I wanted to focus mainly on Darwin's theory of evolution and look at selective breeding. 

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who studied variation in plants and animals during a five year voyage around the world in the 19th century. The basic idea behind the theory is that all the different species have evolved from simple life forms (which developed 3 billion years ago). 

Natural Selection

Theory of evolution states that evolution happens by natural selection:

• Individuals in species show a wide range of variation 
• This variation is because of differences in their genes
• Individuals with characteristics most suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce
• The genes that allow these individuals to be successful are passed to their offspring

Selective Breeding 

Natural selection and selective breading can both produce changes in animals and plants. The difference between the two is that natural selection occurs in nature, but selective breeding only occurs when humans intervene. 

Selective breeding is a process where we choose the characteristics we want in an animal. We breed together a male and female that show some of these characteristics. From their offspring produced we select those that show the characteristics the most and breed them together. This process is repeated over many generations, each time selecting and breeding together those animals that have the characteristics we are looking for. Over a large number of generations, this came produce some surprising results.