Maladaptation

All organisms, from bacteria to humans, display maladaptive and adaptive traits.

Like adaptation, maladaptation may be viewed as occurring over geological time, or within the lifetime of one individual or a group.

It can be noted that the concept of maladaptation, as initially discussed in a late 19th-century context, is based on a flawed view of evolutionary theory.

It was believed that an inherent tendency for an organism's adaptations to degenerate would translate into maladaptations and soon become crippling if not "weeded out" (see also eugenics).

Consider a seemingly trivial example: it is apparently extremely hard for an animal to evolve the ability to breathe well in air and in water.