Science
Animals of the World
Conceptual
11–12 yrs
The Red Queen Hypothesis
红皇后假说
Description
Introduce the Red Queen hypothesis — species must keep evolving just to maintain fitness relative to co-evolving partners; describe predator-prey arms races (cheetah speed vs gazelle speed, bat echolocation vs moth hearing jamming) and parasite-host co-evolution (myxomatosis in rabbits); explain Darwin's hawk moth and orchid as a classic example of mutualistic co-evolution predicting an unknown species; understand that co-evolution is a major driver of biological diversification
Assessment Prompt
Can your child explain the idea of an evolutionary arms race — how a predator and its prey keep evolving better attack and defence strategies in response to each other, never quite getting ahead?
