Over Long Periods of Time, Many Cave-Dwelling Organisms Have Lost

Multiple Choice

Over long periods of time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses?

A) Natural selection cannot account for losses, but can only account for new structures and functions.
B) Natural selection accounts for these losses by the principle of use and disuse.
C) Under particular circumstances that persisted for long periods, natural selection reduced each of these structures because they presented greater costs than benefits.
D) The ancestors of these organisms experienced harmful mutations that forced them to lose these structures.