Welcome Aboard the HMS Beagle!

Dear Diary,


Today mother is making me continue my lessons on evolution and natural selection; however, in the annex, I had an opportunity to play a game that models the process of evolution and natural selection. The game was fun and all but I only lived to be 888,888 years, yet I learned quite a bit about natural selection! All species exhibit variations such as color, strength, and size. The traits are passed from parent to offspring. “Survival of the Fittest” occurs when organisms with the most beneficial traits prosper. Eventually, the parents will pass these genes to their offspring making the offspring prosper as well. The organisms that evolve into the stronger, more efficient organisms tend to survive more than the ones that do not. Over time, the population can either die out from a lack of appropriate genes or prosper from an abundance of favorable genes. In the game I played, I had to choose three diverse animals that were put to the test in the “survival of the fittest game.” Obstacles were put in each level of the game to test the organism’s ability to survive and evolve into a stronger organism. The trick was you had to choose the most unique animals to ensure your animals would live to be a million years old. Over the span of years, the animals would have either passed down their favorable traits or die out. I really liked doing something fun for a change in the annex since I spend all my time stuck in these close quarters. Hopefully one day I can leave the annex for good…


Love,

Anne