The Taltos and the Theory of Evolution
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| Out of Africa |
Introduction - Evolution and Natural Selection
Evolution has no moral
guideposts. It is neither good nor bad. However, there is quite a bit
of debate about
evolution as an acceptable
explanation of how life continues, and much of it is based upon the
assumption of what
evolution ought to be.
The theory of
evolution does not necessarily explain the point of origin from which
all life came; it merely attempts
to explain how life continues
through adaptations from the process of natural selection. Natural
selection is the vehicle
that drives evolution, from
microevolution that can work across generations to macroevolution that
works across species.
Natural selection occurs as a
result of selective pressure, wherein pressure from the species'
environment such as food
sources, mate selection and
predation create a situation where alleles that express traits which
allow individuals within
a species to survive within the
given environment are selected for by selecting against traits
that leave individuals
vulnerable to food shortage,
predation and lack of mates by which to pass their genes along.
A famous example of natural
selection is the moths in England that, in order to escape being picked
off by predators,
had to carry alleles that expressed a
trait for darker body and wing color so as to camoflage themselves
within the layers
of soot from the industrial plants.
Those moths who did not express this trait were easily spotted by
predators as they
still expressed for their lighter
coloring. As emissions from the plants were reduced, the level of soot
coating on
the external environment was also
reduced, removing the need for darker coloring. Those moths who carried
alleles for
the lighter color and passed it
along to their offspring passed on the ability to express the trait and
so those who were
of lighter coloring were able to
survive in the cleaner environment. The darker moths were then the
ones easily
spotted by predators.
It is possible to carry alleles
on a gene that do not express, and most of us are unaware that we carry
certain traits
inherited from our parents unless
and until an environmental pressure triggers their expression. Alleles
are carried
on genes, which are grouped on
particular chromosomes in our DNA. We are capable of inheriting quite a
bit and yet only
expressing a set amount of traits.
We inherit these genes from our parents; hence, children tend to
resemble their parents
in ways obvious and not so obvious.
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| Evolution Chart |
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| Educational Poster of Human Evolution |
Natural Selection on Wikipedia
Evolution and the Genes of the Taltos
This seems to be the theory
that Anne Rice has based the Taltos upon and how the Mayfair Witches can
carry a full set
of chromosomes that are visible on
their individual karyotypes which are not activated unless they are
exposed to conditions
that would activate them.
Humans and Taltos appeared to
be two separate species, and reproductive isolation is the theory that
states
that cross-species reproduction
would render offspring unable to reproduce themselves should they reach
an age where
reproductive maturity would be
possible in either species. Offspring of cross-species reproduction
would be so genetically
vulnerable that it would be unlikely
that this offspring could even survive to reproduce.
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| Human DNA |
Reproduction Between Taltos and Humans
This is not ignored where
cross-species reproduction between humans and Taltos is concerned. A
human with only
46 chromosomes on the DNA strand is
incapable of producing a Taltos because the chromosomal pairing at
conception is incompatible.
Also, because the Taltos species has
a greatly accelerated pregnancy during which distinct adult features
are present in utero,
making a Taltos far more independent
than a human infant, and because of the enormous demand upon the mother
for nutrients
and resources during gestation, a
human mother with an incompatible genetic blueprint is unable to support
reproduction of
a Taltos, resulting in her body
expelling the fetus and causing violent contractions and uterine
hemorrhaging, a demand upon
a human mother that is most often
fatal. In short, she is unable to produce an offspring that can survive
to reproduce,
and her resources to support its
gestation are far too limited.
However, human mothers who do
have the extra set of chromosomes compatible with the Taltos, such as
Rowan and Mona Mayfair,
are capable of producing Taltos
offspring that survive, but the cost to the human mother is enormous.
Both Rowan and
Mona, whose resources have been
dangerously depleted by their respective pregnancies, deteriorate
considerably. Rowan
must undergo a full hysterectomy or
die of uterine hemorrhaging and is still comatose and unlikely to
survive - until Emaleth
arrives with her breasts full of
milk.
The Necessity of Breast Milk for Taltos to Survive
The Taltos milk is full of far
more nutrients than human breast milk, which is necessary for a Taltos
to reach its full
height and development so rapidly.
Without it, the Taltos will not survive far past infancy. It is this
infusion
of nutrients that restores Rowan to
health. Unfortunately, Mona is not so fortunate, and as a result of her
pregnancy
(her uterus was left intact after
the birth), her fertility multiplied as her fecundity rapidly
diminished. Even after
she stopped having sex with so many
cousins (the "selective pressure" that triggered such rampant
ovulation), the damage had
been done, and she wasted away until
she was nearly dead by the time she arrived at Blackwood Farm.
It should be noted that while
Taltos pregnancies in human mothers are almost always fatal (Rowan and
ancestors at Fontevrault,
whom Dolly Jean Mayfair says
referred to their monstrous offspring as "Walking Babies" are the
notable exceptions), Taltos
females who conceive by human
fathers do not bear viable Taltos offspring, if they bear at all.
Emaleth conceived by
the man in the tavern and while she
lost the pregnancy, she was able to express breast milk. The Taltos of
the Glen
of Donnelaith, whose females were
mated with by human males to rapidly produce warriors, ended up
producing what became the
Little People, who in turn were
capable of producing Taltos - with another Taltos.
Reproductive Isolation
Reproductive isolation is not
always a guaranteed barrier between two species fairly close together
reproducing; it simply
is a way of selecting against it due
to the likelihood that the offspring will be unable to reproduce or
even to thrive.
The twist in the Taltos, however, is
that while humans and chimpanzees are approximately 97% similar in
chromosomal structure,
humans and Taltos are only about
40%.
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| DNA Replication |
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| Human Karyotype |
Mutations and the Taltos
As Dr. Mitch Flanagan told Dr.
Samuel Larkin, the offspring Rowan produced, Lasher, is not even a
mutation. It
is possible that humans and Taltos
shared a common ancestor as humans and chimps do, but the result is that
the Taltos had
its own evolution over time. Since
the Taltos have skeletons formed out of something like cartilage, it is
no surprise
that no evidence exists of their
origins in the fossil record. Mutations, as a general rule, are often
the result of
deleterious genes expressing and do
not express traits that enable the individual to really survive to
reproduce.
The Taltos, obviously, were
more than able to do that. They were fairly advanced enough to be
able to learn
language and form social connections
and kinships. However, their vulnerability was their gentle nature -
it left them
prey to a far more aggressive
species - Homo sapiens. Taltos have an extremely long lifespan, where
as in humans,
this is not the case. There is much
that can be said about the differences between Taltos and humans in the
context
of their vastly different lifespans
and their vulnerability to illness and injury.
The Taltos and the Ancestry of the Mayfair Witches
In the case of the Mayfair
Witches and the inherited giant helix, it is known that it was most
likely in the Mayfair
genetic blueprint as far back as
Deborah and Suzanne. Suzanne may or may not have had the giant helix
herself but it
is clear that the man with whom she
had her daughter Deborah, the Earl of Donnelaith, did. This is
established when
Lasher tells his tale of having been
born to "the witch Boleyn" and Douglas of Donnelaith.
Lasher's nature and
significance are known to the nobleman, who brings Lasher back to
Donnelaith as St. Ashlar come again.
To his mother, Anne Boleyn, he is
only a monstrous offspring that ultimately cost her her life. However,
it is clear
that her DNA was compatible with
Douglas of Donnelaith which was how she was able to produce Lasher to
begin with.
Had she lived, she might have had
the same wasting disease that almost killed Mona Mayfair over 400 years
later.
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| Human Double Helix |
Conclusion on Links Between Taltos and the Mayfair Witches
Given that Douglas of
Donnelaith was also an ancestor of Deborah Mayfair, it is most likely
that there were Taltos
ancestors in the family tree of the
Earls of Donnelaith. How could this have happened? How is it that the
Taltos
genes got into the DNA of humans
later on? Is it possible that a human mother and a Taltos male somehow
produced offspring
that were more human than Taltos?
Perhaps the sexes were switched and the Taltos mother somehow produced a
human male
who happened to have the extra set
of chromosomes? Given the variation between offsprings, any of these
would have been
a likely scenario.
The result was that the extra
chromosomes survived in the Earls of Donnelaith and their descendants,
and survived to
be carried by Deborah Mayfair, who
then passed them on to her descendants - the Mayfair Witches.
Y'ALL!
"Survival
of the Fittest" is not a term coined by Charles Darwin. It is
Spencerian, a sort of bastardized form
of Darwinism that claimed, foolishly, that those
who were of high society and wealth were so because of superior
genetics.
The poor and middle-classes were beneath them
"genetically" and, they claimed, therefore unable to rise to the upper
classes
because they were genetically inferior. Evolutionists
who are engaged in academic and scientific research roundly reject
this phrase.
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