What Is Natural Selection? — Definition & Importance

A particular plant among a population needs to take in less water to survive compared to other plants of that same species. The environment in which the plant resides then experiences a drought.

A population of mice has two distinct fur colors: black and white. The population then migrated to an area of white-sandy hills. In this same environment, there are predators are more likely to hunt those mice which are more easily seen.

A certain population of tortoise has a variation in the size of their necks. Those with shorter necks ate plants closer to the ground while those with longer necks were able to eat plants higher up. After a drought, the only plants which were alive for the tortoises to eat were those with foliage higher up.

A hunter kills at random four deer in a total population of fifty. The deer that were killed by the hunter did not vary much from those who survived.