EPIGENETIC MUTATION IN ANIMALS: DISCUSSION IN RELATION TO THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES

ABSTRACT This essay addresses the topic of epigenetic mutation in animals, aiming to broaden the discussion in relation to the most significant problems of the 20th and 21st centuries, regarding the anthropogenic effects on the Environment and how this has affected the lives of animals. Its scientific relevance lies in the fact that it highlights an argument that is necessary in academia and important as a starting point for research into pollution and the weakening of marine biomes. The target object of study chosen to guide the discussion were sea turtles, due to the fact that the two co-authors, Veterinary Medicine academics, research these animals and their behavioral changes that have occurred, as well as pathologies that have arisen in recent times that still remain without a clinical explanation. The difficulty in establishing controlled studies based on contamination with such metals and empirical observation of their effects, in the laboratory, means that studies at the field level are considered as always inconclusive, a ploy to defend industrial conglomerates that continue to pollute the bays, the reefs and the corals. Darwin (2015) stated that the most adaptive species or individuals are those that survive in nature. This has become a powerful jargon that little or no reflection is made on the complex animal kingdom. But what about those who don't adapt: they simply succumb to chaos? Node! And, as already discussed above, they join the most adaptive and, together, produce stronger generations with greater resilience to the negative impacts of physical and anthropogenic action on the environment. Human action, which causes drastic changes in environments, has been the cause of epigenetic mutations in animals that are interpreted as true aberrations.