Inheritors of the Earth by Chris D. Thomas

Author:Chris D. Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2017-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Dogs are but one example. Cattle, pigs and horses also show great variation in their size, while sheep and llama breeds differ in the character of their wool. Darwin particularly loved the varieties of the domesticated rock dove (the same species as the feral pigeon): appearance, behaviour and flight differ so much among them that the different forms could easily be taken for dozens of different wild-pigeon species. Similar changes can be seen in plants. One species of cabbage, Brassica rapa, has been bred into turnips (a root vegetable), Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage), rapini (a broccoli-like vegetable), field mustard (an oil seed) and mizuna (a peppery salad). Different varieties of Capsicum annuum produce bell or sweet peppers that range from green and yellow to red and purple; other varieties are chilli peppers and jalapenos that vary in the concentration of heat-producing capsaicin chemicals (some associated with medicinal as well as culinary uses); while small, roundish-red ‘Bolivian rainbow’ and the dark-leaved and black-fruited ‘Black pearl’ are ornamental garden varieties that are not intended to be eaten at all. Without prior knowledge of their histories and genetic relationships, a botanist could easily assign these varieties to many different species, with the assumption that they evolved millions of years ago.

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