Evolution of a humanoid race

Question

I've built a humanoid race who (in a long story short) left their home planet and were forced to leave the planet.

I am not fully sure how they looked like while they were still on their planet, but I am thinking they should look like dwarf-like creatures with stone-colored skin.

right now, I have made them look like the typical 'Gray-man' extraterrestrial. the one most movies and T-shirt picture when you said 'alien'.

Question; is it possible for a dwarf-like race to evolve into the Gray man aliens? how many years do you think that makes this possible or do you think they need to be completely messed up with inbreed/gene experiments before this is possible?

Answer 1

Evolution, when driven by active intervention can be extremely fast and drastic.

For example, in only about 7000 years, we have changed maize from an inefficient grass-like plant to a superefficient corn-producing monster that in no ways resembles the original.

In about the time, we have turned a wolf into Chihuahua , Dachshund, and St. Bernard.

We also turned an apple from a berry-sized bitter nubbin into a huge, sweet fruit. One that is incapable of propagating a true copy via seed!!

So yes, very drastic changes in physical shape are possible. But basic structure would tend to stay the same (number of fingers,etc..) and fundamental biochemistry is almost impossible to alter.

As for how long? Using only selection, natural or otherwise, you need a couple hundred to a few thousand generations for the changes mentioned above.

Using lab gene alteration? If they know, or think they know, what they are doing.. A small handful of generations only.