Question

Which of the following does not relate to the concept of survival of the fittest?

• A. Fittest animal is victorius over its competitors
• B. The fittest animals leave a higher number of offspring than others
• C. The fittest group is has characters advantageous for survival
• D. The Fittest groups are the best prey

Answer 1

The correct option is D The Fittest groups are the best prey

Fitness, according to Darwin, refers ultimately and only to reproductive fitness. Darwin was influenced by the work of T.R. Malthus, who propounded the theory that food production increased in arithmetic progression while population growth occurred by geometric progression. This resulted in scarcity of resources spread over many consumers, which finally led ultimately to the struggle for existence.

This struggle for existence favoured those who had the characteristics to adapt and survive in the changed environment of leaner resources. The not-so fit got eliminated eventually leading to a filtered progeny inheriting better survival characteristics leading to a reproductive loop of fitter progenies.

For any species becoming the best prey is certainly not a favourable characteristic for survival.