Question

Cheetah tends to be lighter body weight, that is exhibited in its evolution during the 4 million years period. The original population of cheetah had variable weights but lighter cheetahs reproduced more successfully and passed such alleles to their offsprings. Thus, the population of such light weight cheetahs increased in the population. Answer the following question.

The above kind of selection is also illustrated by

• A. Modern horse
• B. Dark coloured moths (Biston carbonaria)
• C. Insects exposed to pesticides
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is D All of the above

The given passage about Cheetah represents the natural selection of lighter weight cheetah over those with heave weight which confers survival and/or reproductive advantage to the species. Evolution of horse includes loss of toes and fingers, increase in height and development of long crowned molars for grazing that transformed Eohippus (the Dawn horse of Eocene epoch) into Equus; the recent horse via several intermediate species. Evolution of dark coloured variety of moth (Biston bitularia carbonaria) due to industrial pollution is referred to as industrial melanism and was the result of natural selection of dark coloured moth over the light coloured wild type owing to their survival and reproductive advantage. Sudden mutation in insects that conferred insecticide resistance to them followed by natural selection of insect population having the mutated gene owing to its survival advantage led to the evolution of insecticide-resistant insects. Thus, the correct answer is option D.