The “Sherpa Phenomenon”: Human Adaptation
Sherpa people are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas.
Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience
at high altitudes. It has been speculated that a portion of the Sherpas climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation
to living in high altitudes. Some of these adaptations include unique hemoglobin–binding enzymes and doubled nitric
oxide production.
Living organisms are distinguished by their ability to reproduce their own kind. Only apple trees produce apples, and only lions can make more lions.
Biological inheritance or heredity is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to characteristics of its parent cell or organism. The transmission of traits from one generation to the next is called heredity. Along with inherited similarity, there is also variation, Offspring differ somewhat in appearance from parents and siblings. Through inheritance, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause a species to evolve. One explanation is that the processes of meiotic recombination and fertilization generate the genetic variation on which natural selection acts.
Adaptations are often compromises: Adaptations contribute to the fitness and survival of individuals. Organisms face a succession of environmental challenges as they grow and develop and are equipped with an adaptive plasticity as the phenotype of traits develop in response to the imposed conditions.
Each organism must do many different things. A seal spends part of its time on rocks; it could probably walk better if it had legs instead of flippers, but it would not swim nearly as well. We humans owe much of our versatility and athleticism to our prehensile hands and flexible limbs, which also make us prone to sprains, torn ligaments, and dislocations. Structural reinforcement has been compromised for agility (Agility or nimbleness is the ability to change the body's position efficiently).