Red Queen hypothesis

English

Etymology

Alluding to a remark by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

Proper noun

Red Queen hypothesis

  1. An evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.
    • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 219:
      The Red Queen hypothesis defines evolution as a kind of arms race, in which species must constantly evolve and adapt merely to survive.

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