Lucky Cow by Mark Pett for April 09, 2006

Transcript:

Leticia: "Nonsurvival of the Unfittest"? Clare: It's all part of my theory of devolution! When the Portugese arrived on the island of Mauritius in 150, they found it teeming with 50-pound birds with stubby wings. The fat, lazy birds had never had predators. The Portugese called them "dodo" because they had no way to defend themselves. So the Portugese ate the dodos and they soon went extinct. Similarly, we've lost all of our natural predators. We've grown fat and lazy, and have lost our physical ability to defend ourselves! When invaders come, we'll be ripe for the plucking, just like the dodo birds!