Evolution is an interesting topic. Here are two examples of animals who have evolved to their present day forms to adapt to their environment.

Flying Squirrel

I think that squirrels and flying squirrels originated from the same species. Squirrels are very agile and can climb up trees quickly in order to outrun their predators on the ground. The squirrels that were faster were able to survive and reproduce while the slower ones got hunted. In addition, the squirrels that had more skin between their forelegs and hindlegs may have been able to glide just long enough to get to another tree. This could enable that type of squirrel to evade flying predators more, thus increasing their chance to reproduce. The offspring that the squirrels who could glide produced would vary. Some would be able to glide almost exactly the same distance as their parents, while some would not be able to. The squirrels that had less gliding capability than their parents would more likely get hunted and not have a chance to reproduce. In addition some offspring would be able to glide farther using the advantage of having more skin between their forelegs and hindlegs. This change is a natural process of mutation. This cycle continues as predators become more and more adept at catching gliding squirrels and the squirrels’ gliding capability keeps on increasing in order to survive. This can be related to an “arms race” in which two groups keep increasing until one can dominate.

Male Peacock

In the beginning all male peacocks had a normal, one color tail. Due to the mutation in offspring produced by this population of peacocks, some may have more colorful tails. The male peacocks with more colorful tails attracted the females more and therefore reproduced more than the other males. The offspring the male peacocks with colorful tails produced varied. Some had more colorful tails, while some did not. However, most of their offspring were like their parents. Eventually, if this continues, the population of peacocks would contain more and more male peacocks with colorful tails. The male peacocks with less colorful tails would often die without reproducing once since females are not as attracted to them as the males with colorful tails. The original male peacock, with a one color tail, would die out since they could not mate enough to keep their population stable at the least. Therefore, this is what caused the male peacocks to evolve to have colorful tails. This is an example of sexual selection.