Atavism

"Atavistic" redirects here. For the record label, see Atavistic Records. For the Slough Feg album, see Atavism (album). For the Otep album, see Atavist (album).

Early embryos of various species display some ancestral features, like the tail on this human foetus. These features normally disappear in later development, but it may not happen if the animal has an atavism.

In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral, trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when genes for previously existing phenotypic features are preserved in DNA, and these become expressed through a mutation that either knocks out the overriding genes for the new traits or makes the old traits override the new one. A number of traits can vary as a result of shortening of the fetal development of a trait (neoteny) or by prolongation of the same. In such a case, a shift in the time a trait is allowed to develop before it is fixed can bring forth an ancestral phenotype. Atavisms are often seen of evidence of evolution.

In social sciences, atavisms describe a cultural tendency of reversion. For example, people in the modern era reverting to the ways of thinking and acting of a former time. The word atavism is derived from the Latin atavus—a great-great-great-grandfather or, more generally, an ancestor.

Biology

Evolutionarily, traits that have disappeared phenotypically do not necessarily disappear from an organism's DNA. The gene sequence often remains, but is inactive. Such an unused gene may remain in the genome for many generations. As long as the gene remains intact, a fault in the genetic control suppressing the gene can lead to it being expressed again. Sometimes, the expression of dormant genes can be induced by artificial stimulation.

Atavisms have been observed in humans, such as with infants born with vestigial tails (called a "coccygeal process", "coccygeal projection", or "caudal appendage"). Atavism can also be seen in humans who possess large teeth, like those of other primates. In addition, a case of "snake heart", the presence of "coronary circulation and myocardial architecture [which resemble] those of the reptilian heart", has also been reported in medical literature.

However, although they are similar, vestigial structures are distinct from atavisms. Atavisms are ancestral traits that reappear in the modern day, but they do not become vestigial organs or body parts. For example, the wings of an ostrich are vestigial structures that no longer serve their original purpose for flight, but they are not the result of a dormant ancestral trait that has reappeared. Other examples of observed atavisms include:

• Hind limbs in whales.
• Reappearance of limbs in limbless vertebrates.
• Back pair of flippers on a bottlenose dolphin.
• Extra toes of the modern horse.
• Re-evolution of sexuality from parthenogenesis in orbitid mites.
• Teeth in chickens.
• Dewclaws in dogs.
• Reappearance of wings on wingless stick insects and earwigs.
• Atavistic muscles in several birds and mammals such as the beagle and the jerboa.
• Extra toes in guinea pigs.
• Reemergence of [[sexual reproduction in the flowering plant Hieracium pilosella and the Crotoniidae family of mites.
• Webbed feet in adult axolotls.
• Human tails (not pseudo-tails) and supernumerary nipples in humans (and other primates).
• Color blindness in humans.

Culture

The term atavism is sometimes also applied in the discussion of culture. Social science has describe the return of older, more "primitive" tendencies (e.g. warlike atitudes, clan identities, anything suggesting the social and political atmosphere of thousands of years ago) as atavistic. "Resurgent atavism" is a common name for the belief that people in the modern era are beginning to revert to ways of thinking and acting that are throw-backs to a former time. This is especially used by sociologists in reference to violence.

The neo-pagan subculture uses this same terminology ("atavism" or "resurgent atavism") to describe how modern, Western countries are experiencing both the decline of Christianity and the rise of religious movements inspired by the older pagan.

Atavism is a key term in Joseph Schumpeter's explanation of World War I in twentieth-century liberal Europe. He defends the liberal international relations theory- that an international society built on commerce will avoid war because of war's destructiveness and comparative cost. His reason for World War I is termed "atavism", in which he asserts that senescent governments in Europe (those of the German Empire, Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, and Austro-Hungarian Empire) pulled the liberal Europe into war, and that the liberal regimes of the other continental powers did not cause it. He used this idea to say that liberalism and commerce would continue to have a soothing effect in international relations, and that war would not arise between nations which are connected by commercial ties.

Social Darwinism

During the interval between the acceptance of evolution in the mid-1800s and the rise of the modern understanding of genetics in the early 1900s, atavism was used to account for the reappearance in an individual of a trait after several generations of absence—often called a "throw-back". The idea that atavisms could be made to accumulate by selective breeding, or breeding back, led to breeds such as the Heck cattle. This had been bred from ancient landraces with selected primitive traits, in an attempt of "reviving" the aurochs, an extinct species of wild cattle. The same notions of atavisms were used by social Darwinists, who claimed that inferior races displayed atavistic traits, and represented more primitive traits than their own race. Both atavisms and Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory are related evolutionary progress, as development towards greater complexity and superior ability.

In addition, the concept of atavism as part of an individualistic explanation of the causes of criminal deviance was popularised by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso in the 1870s. He attempted to identify physical characteristics common to criminals and labeled those he found as atavistic, 'throw-back' traits that determined 'primitive' criminal behavior. His statistical evidence and the closely related idea of eugenics have long since been abandoned by the scientific community, but the concept that physical traits may affect the likelihood of criminal or unethical behavior in a person still has some scientific support.

See also

• Atavistic regression
• Exaptation
• Spandrel (biology)

External links

• Photograph, X-ray and description of three cases of human tail
• Photograph of an additional (third) hoof of cows