Darwin's Progeny

Randy old bastard:

A giant tortoise on the Galapagos Islands who is more than 100 years old has been credited with saving his species from extinction.

Diego, a one-time resident of San Diego Zoo, has fathered an estimated 800 offspring on the Galapagos island of Espanola, AFP reports. Only two males and 12 females of the species were on the island in the 1970s. The 175-pound tortoise lives in a breeding center on the archipelago’s island of Santa Cruz. Experts became aware of his incredible impact about six years ago.

Diego is believed to have been taken from Espanola sometime between 1900 and 1959 by a scientific expedition, eventually arriving at San Diego Zoo. He was brought back to the Galapagos in 1976 and placed in the islands’ captive breeding program.

If you accept at face value the idea that humans "interfered with natural selection" by removing the tortoise from the island a hundred years ago, would it not also be true that nurturing it in captivity and then re-introducing it to its original habitat for the purpose of bringing its species back from extinction is "interfering with natural selection"? There's a simple answer to that apparent conundrum: humans are a part of nature, and our actions -- all of them -- are part of the natural selection process.

We stopped adapting to environmental pressures when we took control of our environment. In a sense, humans are now one of the strongest drivers of natural selection for many other species. Perhaps playing the role of gods is part of the natural selection process, and we really have less choice in the matter than we believe.

Lest you academics and bleeding hearts become too smug about that, however, remember that playing the role of gods and tampering with genetics will not self-limit to other species. We could very easily change ourselves beyond the recognition of our ancestors, and not necessarily for the better. For the moment, the Eugenics Wars are just a science fiction story. I remind you, however, that one hundred years ago, so was traveling to the Moon. The pieces are in place, the science is known. Tampering with genetics and natural selection -- both of other species and ourselves -- could lead to something that makes nuclear-tipped rockets seem childishly harmless by comparison.