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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2002-09 > 1031194396


From: "john flinn" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Toba bottleneck
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 19:53:16 -0700
References: <ac.2cce2eaf.2aa80a67@aol.com>


Grant,
Thak you. Good party line answer, but not convincing enough. I was under the
impression that Toba created a global winter caused by atmospheric particles
circling the globe, blocking out the sun, (sort of like the rings around
Saturn). Severe sudden cold and famine probably caused the majority of
deaths around the earth. Sure, all the people within a certain radius were
probably killed rather quickly, as in your example, Mt. St. Helens.
Question; If the "spurt of evolutionary mutations" is not a chronological
illusion, what could have told or triggered the chromosomes of the surviving
people to change?
An additional or side question that has been bugging me for a long time.
What carries 'instinct' from generation to generation. How does a newborn
calf know to stand up, walk around its mother and search for a nipple to
nurse? I've been unable to find any answers to this one.
Sorry I misspelled your name on my previous post. Must have fat fingered the
n and hit the b.
Respectfully yours,
John Flinn


----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [DNA] Toba bottleneck


> In a message dated 9/4/02 3:18:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> writes:
>
> > . Who are the 5% that survived? The strongest, most fit of the species
> > survived. Lest we forget, remember "The survival of the fittest" , the
> > basic tenet of the process of evolution? The five % that survived were
> > already evolved and conditioned to survive, or they wouldn't have done
so.
> > But they were such a minority of the previous population that we are
(were)
> > virtually unaware of their existence. So, when they are the only ones
left,
> > we erroneously say; "Toba caused the sudden
> > spurt of evolution."
>
> Hi John,
>
> I don't think there is anything special about the survivors. No human can
be
> conditioned to survive a volcano. There was something special about the
> geography. When Mt. Saint Helens blew its top the weakness on the volcano
and
> the air currents dictated where the ash fell. With Toba did the same thing
in
> a mega way the same conditions dictated who lived and who died. About 10
> million years ago a mega volcano in the area that is now Yellowstone Park
> dumped up to 6 feet of ash in Eastern Nebraska. It killed animals in
between,
> not because they had a genetic flaw, defect, or weakness, but simply
because
> they were in the wrong place.
>
> I really don't know if Toba was the cause of death for humans. I
understand
> evolution and I know that many factors, including mass extinction,
contribute
> to modern human evolution.
>
> Grant Johnston, Chico, CA
>
>
> ==============================
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go to:
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