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Leopards turning emo Anonymous
In The Jungle: Malaysian leopards swapping gold for coal

Meet the leopards of peninsula Malaysia. They were spotted gold when they first arrived here some 150 000 years ago, but as discovered by a new study, are almost all born black now.

Wildlife experts are abuzz because black coats in leopards — just like colour blindness in humans — are the result of a recessive gene, thus should be uncommon in the wild.

To have a whole nation of black leopards, strictly genetically speaking, is as probable as having a whole nation of Malaysians who cannot roll their tongues into a ‘u’.

The evolutionary process is called the ‘fixation of the recessive gene’, explained Dr Kawanishi.

“It’s not that the recessive gene has changed to become dominant. But other forces, like natural selection for that genetically recessive trait, work to counter the genetic dominance.”

She explained that it followed Darwin’s theory on natural selection and the survival of the fittest, in that the black gene is passed on more than the genetically dominant spotted gene because black individuals had a higher chance of surviving to reproduce.

A possible advantage of being black in rainforests, she said, may be camouflage.
>> Anonymous
“Also, African leopards live in open habitats with dappled sunlight, where spots are the best disguise. In Malaysia’s dark, humid forests, black coats may give them a better cover than spots.”

http://mylifemypets.info/in-the-jungle-malaysian-leopards-swapping-gold-for-coal/

and in other news, intelligent design is still wrong and stupid.
>> Anonymous
The same thing happens to other animals, I am thinking of rabbits. There is a rabbit specie that is brown in forest and white in mountains, even though it's the same specie and the two lives close enough to breed together, in the forest you will find 99% brown and in the mountain you will find 75% white (the brown % in mountain has also be shown to be increasing recently, in possible correlation to the fact that there is less snow now that in the past).

Darwinism at work. ID can get out.
>> Anonymous
MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS
>> Anonymous
This is only a peninsula? Couldn't this also be the founder effect in action if there isn't any gene flow from the outlying leopards? I guess it depends on whether the population in the peninsula started with a sizable portion of spotted leopards, or started with a nearly homogenous population. Either way, the result is the same, methinks, although the founder effect would likely show inbreeding for other genes.
>> Anonymous
I'd rather be emo than look like a blinged-out brotha.