It might be possible for this to happen naturally, however looking at their needs re UVB & humidity (and the risk of overexposure) I do not see that silkbacks would survive very well if left in the wild. In which case natural selection would ensure that they cease to exist. So I still feel that without human intervention we would not have this morph. This is only my opinion tho - we are all entitled to our own ideas after all. :?
I wonder about inbreeding since they are still such a "specialty item". That's probably just me being paranoid. If I wanted to buy one (which I don't) I would wait until I could see what if any health problems are associated with them... Just a thought...
Sara
silkbacks are just a example of forced evolution. Do i feel they would have eventually shown up in the wild. yes because they would have adapted to their environment if it changed to the point of needing to adapt at this level. Humans just sped up the process through selective breeding.
Are there even leatherbacks in the wild? I am really just curious from the biology standpoint. From my understanding it takes two leatherbacks to make a silk. Now leatherbacks are rare enough from what I understand so the chances are slim of two ever meeting in the wild. It seems like it would probably have taken 1000s of years for this to occur in the wild, if not much longer. We have made this change in 30 or so years. Not to mention these bright colors like we are breeding for now would have gotten them killed in the wild so they wouldn't have been able to pass on their genes. I've been curious about this for awhile, I'm glad I'm not the only one who wonders if we aren't pushing evolution too much. (With that being said I do have a "morph" who is part sandfire and has pretty colors).