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I was just listening to eons in my car and specifically the episode about armored fish, and the thought occurred to me: isn't evolution ultimately selecting for adaptability? (m.youtube.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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It would seem the design that can survive the most extinctions would be the clear winner in the end.

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[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Not exactly. There are some species which haven't changed all that much for millions of years, and those have certainly managed excellent adaptability.

Others, though, might find themselves evolving to cope with the climate right now at the expense of being vulnerable to some future problem. Say the climate is very hot, but in a few tens of thousands of years there'll be an ice age. An animal which is well adapted to the ice age will probably go extinct before it arrives, having all been eaten by an animal well adjusted to the heat which is here right now.

"In the end" isn't useful if you get outcompeted in the meantime

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago

That was one of the points they made about the two big Devonian extinctions. They said it may have involved a warming, followed by an ice age, followed by another warming, all in rapid succession. The cartilaginous fish came through, the armored fish were all wiped out.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There are some species which haven't changed all that much for millions of years

Like... crocodiles?

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