Labs / Biology
Natural Selection
Each critter wears a heritable color, and the predator preferentially eats the ones that stand out against the ground. Survivors breed with a little mutation, so generation after generation the population drifts toward camouflage. Click critters to hunt them yourself, or switch the background to unleash a brand-new selection pressure.
Gen 0Pop 42Mean 0.50Camo 0%
What to try
- Watch the mean-trait line chase the dashed background line. Why does the whole population end up matching the ground it lives on?
- Drag the mutation slider to zero once the critters are camouflaged. What happens to the population's ability to adapt if you then change the background?
- Crank mutation up high. Does the population ever settle on perfect camouflage, or does variety keep bubbling back?
- Switch from Meadow to Ocean mid-run. How many generations does it take for the survivors to re-hide, and which critters get eaten first?
- Turn the predator off and hunt only the critters that look obvious to you. Do you drive the same evolution the predator did, or a different one?