What did Lamarck's idea of the inheritance of acquired traits propose?

Answer 1

First of all, Lamarck's theory of evolution of new species was wrong (disproved by various experiments). It stated that new species emerged by the use and disuse of organs. This, he called The Theory of Acquired Inheritance.

For example, the ancestors of Giraffes found that all lower leaves on the trees were exhausted. So they started stretching their necks to reach higher leaves. Over the course of evolution, their neck length increased and thereby gave rise to modern day giraffes.

Another similar example would be that of snakes. The ancestors of snakes had limbs. But they 'disused' the limbs and over the course of evolution, snakes emerged by the loss of limbs.

Its worthy to remember that only the DNA in germ cells is inherited to the offspring and not that of somatic cells. So lamarckism is basically wrong because the changes in organs cannot be inherited by the offspring.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Lamarack proposed that by selective use or disuse of organs, organisms acquired or lost certain traits during their lifetime.

Answer 3

acquired traits are passed down from parent to offspring.

Traits that are acquired by the parent will be passed on to the offspring.