On many school books, especially old books from the times of my primary and secondary schools (1970-1980’s years), it is very common to find a representation draw of the so called “Evolutionary pyramid”:
This pyramid is the biggest mistake in the history of zoology. It is completely wrong. It doesn’t exist in nature.
The pyramid is drawn assuming the false concept, that the aim of the evolution is to ‘generate’ the Homo Sapiens, or something ‘intelligent’. In the previous pages we have examined how deeply wrong this concept is.
Very short summarized:
The ‘Evolution’ has not an AIM, it has only consequences. In some rare cases, the consequence is to increase the intelligence of a specie. But in the most of cases, this is not the most viable way to improve its survival chances.
The geometric figure which describes better the classification of all the species in nature, is the circle or even better, its 3D version: the sphere.
In the core of the sphere are located the most primitive and simple life form: virus and bacteria. In the first layer over the core there the most elementary multi-cellular organisms.
Then the invertebrates, like the Mollusca come. In direction toward the outside, the level of complexity increases.
On the layers over the Mollusca there are the Chordate, than the vertebrates, the amphibious and so on, up to the mammals, which are the most evolved vertebrates (but not because of their intelligence).
Among the mammals there is the Homo Sapiens, which is not more evolved than the other Eutheria mammals. It is just the less specialized mammal, and as consequence, it has developed more intelligent.
In the various radial sectors long the same layer, are located different categories of species whit a similar level of complexity.
Note that the sphere drawn here is not completely correct. The Human should be located not at the top of the border, but a little below, under the more evolved and specializes mammals, like the cetaceans, the felids and the big herbivores. I had not enough animal figures, to can fill up the sphere correctly.
The ‘Evolutionary sphere’ is the correct representation of the evolutionary progress among the species.
It is also no accident, that the sphere is the geometric form most present in nature.
In nature, the ‘Evolutionary pyramid’ doesn’t exist!