The Sixth Extinction

by

Elizabeth Kolbert

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Sixth Extinction makes teaching easy.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Character Analysis

Late 18th and early 19th century naturalist who proposed an early, largely debunked version of the theory of evolution based on the idea that individual animals changed based on what parts of their body they most used (i.e. an animal’s neck would lengthen if it had to stretch to reach leaves high in trees).
Get the entire Sixth Extinction LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Sixth Extinction PDF

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Character Timeline in The Sixth Extinction

The timeline below shows where the character Jean-Baptiste Lamarck appears in The Sixth Extinction. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Mastodon’s Molars
Mass-extinction and Morality Theme Icon
Science and Paradigm Shifts Theme Icon
...it from surviving. Cuvier’s great rival was his colleague at the Museum of Natural History, Jean-Baptise Lamarck . Lamarck proposed that animals could slowly change their own bodies over time—for example, he... (full context)