Quick question for evolutionists

i'm not sure if a question like this has been asked before because of me being new to the board and all, so forgive me if it has.


All existing creatures today are assumed to have passed through centuries of harsh environments and being superior survivors, out-performed competitors, ancestors and near cousins. Those survival instincts would continue to be passed on even after the environment may have improved, permitting an easier life.

Domesticated cats and dogs still retain instincts for hunting even though they may have never observed such skills nor ever needed them. Yet upon being released to the wild, dogs will hunt in packs and cats become natural predators.

What are the survival skills possessed by sheep? Modern breeds of sheep appear to be devoid of survival skills or defensive mechanisms. They seem to depend on humans for their existence. Without human protection they become easy prey for predators.

We do not see a symbiotic relationship where some animal protects sheep for a selfish reason. Animals either have no use for sheep or simply want to eat them. Only humans shepherd them for use.

So in what kind of environment did sheep evolve? If they had ancestors that were more aggressive or more able to fend off predators, those breeds would have out-performed a more passive kind and would have dominated throughout time.

Yet we see no such aggressive breed. It would seem the passive sheep came into being and flourished only during the reign of humans, there were no sheep ancestors prior to human shepherds.

i'm not sure if a question like this has been asked before because of me being new to the board and all, so forgive me if it has.


All existing creatures today are assumed to have passed through centuries of harsh environments and being superior survivors, out-performed competitors, ancestors and near cousins. Those survival instincts would continue to be passed on even after the environment may have improved, permitting an easier life.

Domesticated cats and dogs still retain instincts for hunting even though they may have never observed such skills nor ever needed them. Yet upon being released to the wild, dogs will hunt in packs and cats become natural predators.

What are the survival skills possessed by sheep? Modern breeds of sheep appear to be devoid of survival skills or defensive mechanisms. They seem to depend on humans for their existence. Without human protection they become easy prey for predators.

We do not see a symbiotic relationship where some animal protects sheep for a selfish reason. Animals either have no use for sheep or simply want to eat them. Only humans shepherd them for use.

So in what kind of environment did sheep evolve? If they had ancestors that were more aggressive or more able to fend off predators, those breeds would have out-performed a more passive kind and would have dominated throughout time.

Yet we see no such aggressive breed. It would seem the passive sheep came into being and flourished only during the reign of humans, there were no sheep ancestors prior to human shepherds.

Many prey species survive through the 'herd' lifestyle. They produce more individuals than the prey can eat. You have to remember that species evolve, not individuals. The survival of the population is what drives evolution, not the survival of any particular individual. There is also the chance that sheep lived in an environment where there where not that many predators or where it was hard for predators to get to them. Sheep do have horns that would offer some protection and most likely would have been 'leaner and meaner' in the past prior to their domestication.

..plucked from the above quote...You have to remember that species evolve, not individuals.

Is that true? Has this statement actually been witnessed and demonstrated or was that statement just plucked from an evo website or text book as easily as I plucked it from the above quote?

The reason I ask is because according to evolutionISM it is a mutation that starts the change, then other mutations add to the change and so on and so on untill the change is noticable.

These mutations according to the evos occur in a single individual animal..is kept, then passed on.

So, it appears that the above statement is incorrect...or needs to be modified.