(no subject)
Дэвид Лэк прекрасен:
"When the forms in question are closely related, it becomes exceedingly hard to tell which of their resemblances are due to common descent and wich to convergent adaptation. Thus if a Martian explorer returned to his planet with badly stuffed skins of a gorilla, a Zulu and a Viking, the local museum worker might well classify the gorilla and the Zulu in one species and the Viking in a different one. In this, they would have been misled by a superficial character (colour), combined with the many features shared by higher ape and man through their common descent. Internal anatomy and behaviour would, of course, show that Zulu and Viking are conspecific and the gorilla highly distinct."
David Lack. Swifts in a Tower. 1956
"When the forms in question are closely related, it becomes exceedingly hard to tell which of their resemblances are due to common descent and wich to convergent adaptation. Thus if a Martian explorer returned to his planet with badly stuffed skins of a gorilla, a Zulu and a Viking, the local museum worker might well classify the gorilla and the Zulu in one species and the Viking in a different one. In this, they would have been misled by a superficial character (colour), combined with the many features shared by higher ape and man through their common descent. Internal anatomy and behaviour would, of course, show that Zulu and Viking are conspecific and the gorilla highly distinct."
David Lack. Swifts in a Tower. 1956