• ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Just because a gene has become popular in a population doesn’t necessarily mean it provides an evolutionary advantage. It can also be genetic hitchhiking, where a non-advantageous gene tags along with an advantageous one because they’re located close together. Or even just genetic drift, where a gene becomes popular due to random chance.

    There could be an advantage for this trait, but there doesn’t need to be.

    • Malgas@beehaw.org
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      10 months ago

      Also these are domestic goats, so the advantage could literally be “humans thought it was neat”.