That's not recorded anywhere in history and is evidence that Darwin is wrong. The inventors did not induce a gradual change in species through survival of the fittest. It is obvious their theory was different. I have explained these differences many times.
BOTANICAL NAME:
Zea mays parvaglumis or
mexicana
HISTORICAL ORIGINS:
About 9,000 years ago, humans began to interact with wild teosinte in the balsas River Valley of southern-central Mexico. Over several thousand years of seed stewardship our ancient ancestors developed domesticated corn and the thousands of different varieties that exist today.
CULINARY USES:
Teosinte is not consumed widely. In Mexico the stalk is chewed for its sweet juices, reminiscent of sugar. Archaeological evidence suggests the sweet juice from the stalks of teosinte was consumed prior to the discovery of the grain. The hard outer casing of teosinte makes the dry grain inedible. It was a genetic mutation that caused this hard outer coating to disappear. Ancient plant breeders took advantage of this trait by saving and planting these kernels, essentially making corn what it is today.
SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPORTANCE:
Teosinte is an extremely important crop, as it believed that the subspecies p
arviglumis is the wild progenitor of corn. About 9,000 years ago, teosinte grew wild, as a grass-like plant, with a grain in a tough shell that was dispersed only when ripe. About 9,000-6,000 years ago, ancient people began to develop
parviglumis teosinte into a crop that more closely resembles what we know as corn. Its kernels started to grow without the tough shell, and humans domesticated this plant for its grain, changing the size and textures of the kernels. This mutation causing the loss of the shell meant that the plant could no longer grow wild in its current form, since the kernels were unprotected from predators such as birds. Through these interactions with humans, it is thought that corn developed into the plant it is now.
Teosinte has never grown in the American Southwest. Domesticated corn was grown in the Southwest by 4,000 years ago. As domesticated varieties of corn were moved from central Mexico throughout the Americas it cross-pollinated other subspecies of teosinte including
Zea mays mexicana which is native to Northwest Mexico.
Farmers in Mexico and Central America still let the wild teosinte plants grow around the edges of their cornfields as it is believed that the teosinte makes the corn plants ‘stronger’. This is because the genetic transfer between wild and domesticated varieties diversifies the genetic code of the domesticated corn, reducing impacts of inbreeding and genetic narrowing. The pollen from teosinte can pollinate the silks of the domesticated corn because they are still very closely related. This diversity leads to healthier populations. Teosinte is widely used as a forage crop for cattle in Mexico and the seeds may be fed to other livestock such as chickens and pigs.
Teosinte is considered the mother of corn and therefore holds a very important place in indigenous culture and beliefs. For many indigenous societies of the Americas corn is considered the mother of all people and is the most important cultivated crop. The name teosinte is derived from the Nahuatl word
tosintli which means sacred corn. Many indigenous peoples visiting the Native Seeds/SEARCH seed bank facility have honored teosinte. One memorable moment came from Martina, a young Zapotec teacher from Oaxaca. She began to cry when holding the precious teosinte seeds. She spoke of how her family and culture have stories about sacred teosinte, but she had never been able to see it. To hold it was something very precious to her.
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES:
Teosinte commonly grows wild in Southern Mexico, along stream sides and on hillsides, but is also found in waste-ground and along field boundaries. Teosinte plants do not produce flowers or the tassels until the shorter days of autumn, making it difficult to harvest seed in frost-prone areas in North America. Its natural range does not extend beyond southern Chihuahua.
This wild ancestor to domesticated corn shares many of the same traits as modern corn. However, the ears are small (2-3") with only 1 row of triangular shaped seeds. Plants will produce silks and tassels, but will be bushier with many branches. Each seed is enclosed by a very hard fruit case that protects it in the wild. Soak seeds overnight to aid in germination.
Meanwhile back in reality. Your strawman survival of the fittest "theory" has nothing to do with evolution or Darwin.
It is nothing more than a bastardization of Darwin's theory as propagated by Herbert Spencer.
This is documented history, your strawman owes more to religious zealotry than anything else.
That's not recorded anywhere in history and is evidence that Darwin is wrong. The inventors did not induce a gradual change in species through survival of the fittest. It is obvious their theory was different. I have explained these differences many times.
Social Darwinism
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Misusing Darwin's Theory
Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is entirely focused on an explanation of life's biological diversity. It is a scientific theory meant to explain observations about species. Yet some have used the theory to justify a particular view of human social, political, or economic conditions. All such ideas have one fundamental flaw: They use a purely scientific theory for a completely unscientific purpose. In doing so they misrepresent and misappropriate Darwin's original ideas.
One such distortion and misuse is the loose collection of ideologies grouped under the label of "Social Darwinism." Based largely on notions of competition and natural selection, Social Darwinist theories generally hold that the powerful in society are innately better than the weak and that success is proof of their superiority.
Darwin passionately opposed social injustice and oppression. He would have been dismayed to see the events of generations to come: his name attached to opposing ideologies from Marxism to unbridled capitalism, and to policies from ethnic cleansing to forced sterilization. Whether used to rationalize social inequality, racism, or eugenics, so-called Social Darwinist theories are a gross misreading of the ideas first described in the
Origin of Species and applied in modern biology.
