this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
1227 points (98.7% liked)

Science Memes

10709 readers
4455 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Chickens are the most numerous bird on the planet, wheat covers more land area than any other plant.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Chickens are the most numerous bird on the planet

And live their lives in fucking misery and suffering, at least most of em.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

But they keep reproducing, which is really all that it takes to make a successful species. It's really not about suffering when it comes to evolution. Alleles don't care whether or not suffering is involved.

I'm not advocating chicken farming, I'm just saying that in evolutionary terms, chickens are one of the most successful species on the planet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

I disagree.

Evolution is not so much a numbers game. Otherwise Bacteria, Ants, Viruses and the like would have to be crowned winners. So the point op brings up is ~~mute~~ moot.

The point you add, that they keep reproducing, is also not relevant in evelotionary terms. The short amount of time that we have domesticated chickens, let a side the very resent industalisation of animal farming (it started in the 1950s ish), is just not relevante in evelotionary terms.

I'd say what makes a successfull species is resilience. 99 % of all species have gone extinct. The "winners" of evelotion are, in my opinion, those species that have lasted the longest. And in that regard, chicken ain't looking to good. They are highly dependent upon humans. Most industrial chickens are genetic aborninatons, bred for beeing fat, fast growing, egg laying machines to the point where their own bones brake because they lack calcium. I'd argue that chickens in their current form would not last long in "the wild". Hence once humans are gone their is a high chance chickens will follow.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

Otherwise Bacteria, Ants, Viruses and the like would have to be crowned winners.

They are. And you mean 'moot.'

Also, you don't know what evolution is. It's a change in allele frequency over time. All that is needed for that is continued reproduction.