Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife

I'm sure most people have heard about the huge debate in the US about evolution and whether it should be taught in schools. I firmly believe that evolution is fact, but many people in the UK don't A recent survey suggests that as little as half believe it to be true in the UK, which is astonishing really.

So I was thinking what would be a good example of how an animal in the UK has evolved to fit its environment perfectly? At first I thought the grey squirrel has adapted supremely to its environment, but its probably not a very popular example!

I would have thought that one of the best examples of evolution in action is the London Underground Mosquito, Culex molestus, a species of mosquito which feeds only on mammals (rats, mice, humans) and which is found only in the tunnels of the London Underground. Culex molestus is thought to have evolved during the 100 years or so since the London Underground was first constructed from the mosquito, Culex pipiens, a species of mosquito that feeds only on birds.

There is also, apparently, small but noticeable generic differences between examples of Culex molestus found in the tunnels of the different London Underground lines.

Thanks for that! I had never heard of the Underground Mosquito, but that's a brilliant example of evolution.

The London Underground Mosquito is a very good one. Most examples of evolution take hundreds of thousands of years to take place, but I suppose that as the mosquito can go through so many generations quickly that it evolves quicker than most.