Originally Posted by genejockey

Yes, and there were no claims in it that they've 'evolved an immunity to beestings'. Beekeepers often DEVELOP (not evolve) tolerance to beestings, by being stung multiple times, and I'd note that the narrator says the lead hunter didn't get stung at all on this particular hunt.

Also, a 'a very old evolutionary development' would be that you can speak, and walk upright. Since the tribe only moved to the area in the Middle Ages, an evolutionary adaptation would be very new. But again, there's no claim in the film of any such inherited immunity. Indeed, they go to a great deal of effort to AVOID being stung.



That's the laymen's understanding, yes. Basically the genetics of a population can shift if carriers of a particular mutation have more descendants than others. Novel genes isn't what does it. It's a minute change in an existing gene, or that gene turned off or turned on, or turned up or turned down, or turned off or on at a different time.

But again, since beekeepers often develop the same tolerance, there's no need to posit some novel trait. If they're around bees all the time, as seems likely, they're probably stung multiple times growing up and develop tolerance. One thing that MIGHT happen would be that any alleles that would make one prone to anaphylaxis from beestings would tend to disappear over generations.