Exaptation
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Exaptation or co-option is a shift in the function of a trait during evolution. For example, a trait can evolve because it served one particular function, but subsequently it may come to serve another
Charles Darwin
Bird feathers of various colors
Stephen Jay Gould
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Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, historian of science, and one of the most widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his ca
Exaptation
…traits and the products (functions, anatomical structures, biochemicals, etc.) that may be imperfectly developed. The term "exaptation" was proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba as a replacement for "pre-adaptation", which they considered to be a teleologically loaded term (i.e., it falsely implies that…
Gould's inspiration to become a paleontologist: T. rex specimen AMNH 5027, American Museum of Natural History, New York City
A spandrel from the Holy Trinity Church in Fulnek, Czech Republic
Cerion shells from San Salvador Island, the Bahamas
Cover of the first edition of The Mismeasure of Man