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Why Humans Accidentally Explode
When a creature is removed from the environment in which it evolved the results are rarely positive
When human beings began to explore the depths of the oceans using the newly-developed technology of submarines, they discovered something very interesting: when you raise a deep-sea creature from its normal habitat up to the surface, it either explodes or its internal cellular structures rupture. Either way, the creature dies. This is because deep-sea creatures are evolved to live under constant enormous pressure. Conversely, putting a human body under two kilometers of water would crush the unfortunate person instantly. We’re adapted to live on the surface of our world. When you radically change an organism’s environment it cannot cope.
It’s not merely with physiology that this problem can be seen. When we take animals that are used to ranging over vast territories and imprison them in zoos we see all manner of maladaptive behaviors emerge. Some animals obsessively over-groom until they’re scraping away at raw flesh. Others pace relentlessly in a kind of miserable trance. Many refuse to mate and become aggressive toward potential partners rather than exhibiting the wooing behaviors seen in the wild.
