Natural Selection for Adaptation in the Wild

By: Livia Hyden

Animals adapt and evolve over time through natural selection to best fit their environments. This process consists of changes over long time periods where reproduction favors the best fit individuals. As the individuals of species who are the most capable of surviving in their environments avoid predation and survive to reproduce, or are selected by a partner as they are the most desirable, their offspring are also predisposed to be “fit” for the environment, and any offspring who are not will be eliminated from the pool in a similar cycle. As habitats experience shifts, whether severe or small, the animals who are the most likely to survive often change as well. For example, in a place with leafy forests, orange foxes will blend in better than white foxes. Therefore, the orange foxes will survive to reproduce, producing primarily orange foxes in that population. However, if the climate changes and that biome becomes frozen, the orange foxes will stand out while the white foxes become newly camouflaged. Over time, the population will shift to contain mostly white foxes as these will be the most capable to avoid predation. Overall, adaptation through natural selection ensures that wild populations contain individuals who are able to live well in their environments, even when these environments do not remain consistent.