NEETZoologyPrinciples of Inheritance and Variation
What did humans do with the variations present in wild populations?
Options
- AThey ignored them
- BThey selectively bred and selected for organisms with desirable characters
- CThey eliminated them
- DThey studied them without using them
Correct answer
B. They selectively bred and selected for organisms with desirable characters
Step-by-step solution
Humans knew from as early as 8000-1000 B.C. that one of the causes of variation was hidden in sexual reproduction. They exploited the variations that were naturally present in the wild populations of plants and animals to selectively breed and select for organisms that possessed desirable characters . For example, through artificial selection and domestication from ancestral wild cows, we have well-known Indian breeds, e.g., Sahiwal cows in Punjab. We must, however, recognise that though our ancestors knew about th