Subject
Fw: Fw: Victoria Alexander: A nice example of non-utilitarian
mimicry
mimicry
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Striz" <phaed2@yahoo.com>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 1:19 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Victoria Alexander: A nice example of non-utilitarian
mimicry
> This message was originally submitted by phaed2@YAHOO.COM to the NABOKV-L
list
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (25
lines) ------------------
>
> Dieter E. Zimmer wrote, "Independently, evolution was pursuing the same
> purpose..." Given the fairly detailed and reliable information that he
> subsequently provides, I'm sure he knows that evolution has no purpose,
> and merely misstated this or was using another connotation for "purpose"
> other than its teleological meaning. A better way to say it is that the
> hummingbird and hummingbird moth became similar enough at some point to
> utilize the same ecological niche, and thus natural selection drove them
> to a morphological convergence. A very good example of the convergence
> that he later mentions is the Tazmanian tiger, _Thylacinus cynocephalus_
> (http://www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/), which resembles the family Canidae
> (dogs, wolves, coyotes, dingos) but is actually a marsupial. It evolved
> to fill a similar ecological niche as canines, but since it evolved
> primarily in Tazmania, where no canines exist, one could hardly argue that
> it mimicked them.
>
> Martin Striz
> Genetics Grad Student
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Yahoo! - We Remember
> 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost
> http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute
>
From: "Martin Striz" <phaed2@yahoo.com>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 1:19 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Victoria Alexander: A nice example of non-utilitarian
mimicry
> This message was originally submitted by phaed2@YAHOO.COM to the NABOKV-L
list
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (25
lines) ------------------
>
> Dieter E. Zimmer wrote, "Independently, evolution was pursuing the same
> purpose..." Given the fairly detailed and reliable information that he
> subsequently provides, I'm sure he knows that evolution has no purpose,
> and merely misstated this or was using another connotation for "purpose"
> other than its teleological meaning. A better way to say it is that the
> hummingbird and hummingbird moth became similar enough at some point to
> utilize the same ecological niche, and thus natural selection drove them
> to a morphological convergence. A very good example of the convergence
> that he later mentions is the Tazmanian tiger, _Thylacinus cynocephalus_
> (http://www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/), which resembles the family Canidae
> (dogs, wolves, coyotes, dingos) but is actually a marsupial. It evolved
> to fill a similar ecological niche as canines, but since it evolved
> primarily in Tazmania, where no canines exist, one could hardly argue that
> it mimicked them.
>
> Martin Striz
> Genetics Grad Student
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Yahoo! - We Remember
> 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost
> http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute
>