The Most Adaptable Species on the Planet

History shows humans have a great capacity for adaptability.

By Tania Dooley

     As a collective society we are experiencing the effects directly or indirectly of this COVID-19 pandemic, and then we will figure out how it came to be.  As the quote by Oscar Wilde says, you get the test first (the pandemic), then the lesson afterward (how we got to this point).

Personal pic

     As with many life-  changing events in our  history, we do not get forewarnings of things to come, whether that is natural disasters like tornadoes and earthquakes, or whether that is a pandemic like we are experiencing now.  If there is a positive thought we can hold on to it is the fact that for thousands of years humans have survived and adapted to a plethora of things that were unexpected.  Humans are the most adaptable species on the planet; if you are alive today it's because your ancestors survived and adapted in one form or another to whatever it is they faced.  

Humans discovering fire was a 
turning point in the history of mankind.
Via WikiCommons

The Scientific American has an article, "Humans may be the most adaptive species" focusing on the adaptability of humans, from surviving climate change, to the evolving brain which is the most obvious sign of adaptability. Life is not a straight line, it often presents circumstances which force an awareness about the way we live, or it simply does this because we are on an ever changing planet and we must adapt to or die.

Earth
 via WikiCommons

     It's still too soon to see all the ways we will have to change our social behaviors to keep this pandemic at bay; however, for now we know that we can keep safe through the behaviors that have been recommended to us such as social distancing and the like.  Just like the handshake which was something introduced in our cultures hundreds of years ago, it could be that it is a behavior or custom we will have to revisit and modify. For now the goal is to get through this pandemic safely, and then we will have many years to figure out how we could have done it better.  We'll have many years to ponder on the lessons this experience has forced us to learn.  

References

Scientific American (2013). Humans may be the most adaptive species. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-may-be-most-adaptive-species/

Photos Via WikiCommons, Public Domain.