Adaptive Function of Form: The Beauty of Ugly

One of Biology’s key themes is that form, or body structure, in living things fits each one’s function. This helps explain the adaptive success, or “beauty,” of “ugly” animals in nature. They are ugly only relative to our expectations, as we see in human “hard wired” protective responses to the “beautiful” features of human babies. But if we see ugly animals in light of how well they have adapted to their environments, see how “deformity” gives each of them a better fitness for survival.
Appropriate for Gr. 7 Science.
30 min.