Concept
Exaptation
Also: ex·ap·ta·tion, exaption (misspelling)
The repurposing of a trait: something that evolved or was built for one purpose turns out to serve another.
Pronunciation: /ˌɛk.sæpˈteɪ.ʃən/ (ex-ap-TAY-shun). Plural: exaptations. Adjective: exapted.
Meaning
Exaptation is a term from evolutionary biology. A trait is exapted when it is co-opted for a use it did not originally evolve for. It contrasts with adaptation, a trait shaped by selection for the job it does now.
Origin
The palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba introduced the word in 1982, in the paper Exaptation — a missing term in the science of form. They needed a name for features whose current use is not the reason they exist.
Examples
- Feathers most likely evolved for warmth or display, long before they helped birds fly.
- Middle-ear bones in mammals derive from bones that were part of the jaw in their ancestors.
- Graphics cards were built to render video games and turned out to be what trains neural networks.
In organisations
In complexity work, exaptation describes how much innovation actually happens: not by designing something new from scratch, but by noticing that an existing capability, tool, relationship or habit can serve a different purpose in a new context. Most of what an organisation needs is often already there. The work is to see it — for example by mapping affordances — and to put it to new use. The company Exaptation is named after the idea.
Related words
Adaptation, co-option, repurposing, pre-adaptation (an older, now avoided term).