Page 137 - Eternity Has Already Begun

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)

Lamarck believed that giraffes evolved
from such animals as antelopes. In his
view, the necks of these grass-eating ani-
mals gradually grew longer, and they
eventually turned into giraffes. The laws of
inheritance discovered by Mendel in 1865
proved that it was impossible
for properties acquired
during life to be handed
on to subsequent gen-
erations. Lamarck's gi-
raffe fairy tale was
thus consigned to the
wastebin of history.

creatures passed on the traits they acquired during their lifetime to
the next generation. He asserted that these traits, which accumulat-
ed from one generation to another, caused new species to be formed.
For instance, he claimed that giraffes evolved from antelopes; as
they struggled to eat the leaves of high trees, their necks were ex-
tended from generation to generation.

Darwin also gave similar examples. In his book The Origin of
Species, for instance, he said that some bears going into water to
find food transformed themselves into whales over time. 25
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel
(1822-84) and verified by the science of genetics, which flourished in
the twentieth century, utterly demolished the legend that acquired
traits were passed on to subsequent generations. Thus, natural se-
lection fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.

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