Charles Darwin, in an excerpt from his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, explains exactly how the animal world evolves. He brings together what he learned from years of research as a ship’s naturalist along the coast of South America to explain his scientific theory of natural selection and sexual selection.
Darwin explains that if an organism has any deviation from its species normal traits, natural selection is the process through which it is decided whether that deviation is good or bad for the survival of the species. If the trait, in some way, promotes the preservation of the species, it will slowly over time be passed down the generations until it is present in the species, or subspecies, as a whole. If the trait does not benefit the survival of the species, it will have less of a chance of being passed down the generations (926). …show more content…
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Darwin goes on to explain how the wolf species might be effected by natural selection. If the deer population in the country increased and the other prey had decreased, only the swiftest wolves would have the best chance for survival and would then would be preserved. Suppose two packs of wolves lived in two different environments, each with different prey; they would each evolve to meet the needs of their respective environments and from there on, two varieties might be formed.