Ancon sheep: a now disproven example of macroevolution.
The Ancon breed of sheep provided, for decades, a critical support for the existence of major evolutionary changes or jumps called "sports." Putative examples of sports have been used as evidence of rapid macroevolution since Darwin first discussed the Ancon sheep mutation in 1859. Ancon sheep had very short legs that were considered an advantage for shepherds because the sheep were less likely to escape over fences. Many textbooks and articles implied that the breed was an example of how a major new trait could evolve in a single generation. The Ancon sheep example has been used both to prove gradual Darwinism and also to argue for rapid evolution as opposed to gradualism. It now is recognized that Ancon sheep resulted from genetic diseases, and that they usually suffered from achondroplasia. The so-called new breed had so many major health problems that the condition caused the breed's extinction decades ago, yet was mentioned in textbooks as evidence for evolutionary jumps as recently as 2005.
Bergman
Gerald
G
Northwest State College, Archbold, Ohio 43543, USA. jbergman@northweststate.edu
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004392:Dwarfism / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D009154:Mutation; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000235:genetics*