Question

Could prolonged hibernation evolve DNA in hibernating animals? Does the caterpillar change DNA when it changes into butterfly?

Hibernation, which involves major changes in the metabolism of a hibernating animal (and in some cases, such a bears, is intimately tied to their reproductive cycle), is genetically determined. Thus it certainly involves DNA, but I'm not sure what you mean when you ask if hibernation evolves DNA. For animals that take two very different forms, such as a caterpillar and butterfly, the situation is different. These insects pass through a larval stage, then enter an inactive state called pupa, and finally emerge as winged adults. While inside the pupa, the insect will excrete digestive juices to destroy much of the larva's body, leaving a few cells intact. The remaining cells will begin the growth of the adult, which emerges as a very different creature. Such metamorphosis probably represents the evolutionary combining of two independent creatures, retaining the DNA instructions for making both, and activating this process sequentially, first to make a caterpillar, then to make a butterfly. David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
May 23, 2007