Around 45 to 55 million years ago there lived an ancestor of one of today’s common species, the horse (Equus ferus callabus). This individual was a Hyracotherium which inhabited the Earth during the Eocene period. This species remained on the planet for a relatively long time seeing that there were limited ‘selection pressures’ present. Evolutionists are not entirely certain what drove the evolution of this species but many believe that a changing environment due to climate change is rather likely. This Hyracotherium was rather small and had toes on each foot. However now with the changing environment, the anatomy of this species was no longer beneficial to it’s survival. In a population, no two individuals are the same. This is due to variation caused by genetic mutation. There will be individuals in this population who will be able to accommodate this change in the environment better than others, and hence are more likely to survive. These individuals will therefore be allowed to reproduce, passing their advantageous alleles onto their offspring. This is known as Natural Selection, a mechanism proposed by Charles Darwin which can explain the process of evolution. Over time, the population will now have a larger proportion of these advantages alleles which facilitates the survival of these individuals. If the new population has changed to a relatively large extent and an individual from the original population cannot reproduce with a new member of a population to produce fertile offspring, then a process known as speciation has occured. This is the process of a new species arising from an older, now probably extinct species.

Around 2690 BC the Egyptian language was present. This makes it one of the world’s oldest languages. It is well-known that the Egyptians were an intelligent race when it came to many fields of study so it is hardly surprising that they devised their own language which was written in the form of hieroglyphics and was also thought to have been spoken. The language remained in Egypt for around 3000 years due the land’s resistance to major external influences or for comparative purposes, so-called ‘selection pressures’. Egyptologists are not entirely certain what drove this Egyptian language to become extinct but it is thought that Christianisation influenced the rapid process of the death of the Egyptian language. This language was used from day-to-day communication to the writing-up of the treatments of several conditions such as asthma. There is always variation in a population and no individuals speak the same way. Individuals have their own idiolect. There will be a certain way of speaking and hence thinking that may be able to survive this change in environment not only due to the individual’s willingness to adapt, but also the desire to be integrated into a changing society. With these selected individuals, their way of speaking and thought may become the desired