Before the 20th century, the Irish elk was taken as a prime example of orthogenesis (directed evolution), an evolutionary mechanism in which the successive organisms within the lineage of an evolutionary series become increasingly modified in a single undeviating direction.
The Irish elk was taken as a prime example of orthogenesis (directed evolution). This was before the 20th century. Orthogenesis (directed evolution) were an evolutionary mechanism in which the successive organisms within the lineage of an evolutionary series become increasingly modified in a single undeviating direction.