Exploring a Change in Views on the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
Can a giraffe make its neck longer by stretching to reach higher branches? Most people today would laugh and say "of course not", but there was a time when scientists thought it was possible for an animal to acquire such complex characteristics. The idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, is an evolutionary process that involves organisms changing their phenotypic characteristics in response to changes in their environment and then passing these new traits on to their offspring (Price 1996, 46). Charles Darwin's views on the idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics, apparent by his theory of evolution, can be viewed as a bit short-sighted as compared with a modern view on the subject.
Darwin and Lamarck both believed in evolution, they merely had different ideas about the mechanisms behind the process. Lamarck believed that the variation of animals was caused by their changing needs related to environmental stimuli. …
