Heredity and Evolution — Science STD 10 — Question

Acquired characters are acquired due to individual’s response to external stimuli. These traits develop because of constant exposure to a certain stimulus and the resultant response by the individual. Let us take the example of a certain cricketer who is an excellent batsman. He could become an excellent batsman because of several reasons. Some of them could be; his keen interest in the game, timely support from his family and friends, proper coaching at the right age and timely selection in the cricket team. All the cricketing ability could be acquired by him because of the way he responded to all the challenges and opportunity. But this does not mean that the son of this cricketer would become an excellent cricketer; because cricketing ability is not an inheritable character.
In fact, acquired characters just alter the phenotype of an individual. It has no effect on genotype. A character can only be inheritable when it changes the genotype of individual. Hence, acquired characters are not inherited.