Leaf insects are Incredible

FromStLouis

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This is the kind of beauty climate change is wiping off the face of our earth.

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Music Fiend

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I love biology but one thing i never understood was this type of evolution?

how can a recent ancestor suddenly mimic leaves like that? Like even down to the veins and defects (Brown spots like dried leaves).

Am I supposed to buy that one of their recent ancestors had a mutation (thats like a 0.000001% chance) that allowed it to survive and then pass on that same mutation to the next generation?
 

mbewane

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I love biology but one thing i never understood was this type of evolution?

how can a recent ancestor suddenly mimic leaves like that? Like even down to the veins and defects (Brown spots like dried leaves).

Am I supposed to buy that one of their recent ancestors had a mutation (thats like a 0.000001% chance) that allowed it to survive and then pass on that same mutation to the next generation?

I think that's exactly how it happens, nature "tries out" some mutations depending on the environment and whatnot, and those who end up with the "good" mutation perpetuate the species while the others die. It only looks "sudden" in retrospect, for this one insect that made it there's probably like a thousand other similar species who were just progressively wiped out.
 
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