Who Wants to Live a Million Years: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation

 It took me two generations to win the game, I think it only took two rounds because after the first time I understood what qualities the animals needed to survive. I think this suggests that real species have to learn what tactics they need in order to better their chances of long-term survival. On the first round, I made the animals mostly small with little fur. I chose these phenotypes because I thought if there was a heat wave they would survive because they wouldn't be overly heated, and if there was an ice age they wouldn't be completely bald. I also chose short legs because they could hide. The amount of fur seemed to work, but I had to adjust the height so that they could better survive. For most of the games this combination worked.  Yes, I think they would be affected by genetic drift. The tall height seemed to be dominant because whenever that alleles was chosen they would all be tall rather than just a few of them. The short fur seemed to be recessive. In cold conditions the animals needed longer fur and to keep them warm. When the weather got really hot they got rid of their fur so they didn't over heat and die. Adaptations such as spots, stripes, and long legs helped when there was a large predator. The different markings helped them to hide and blend in with their surroundings, and being taller helped them to run faster. Long legs also helped when the food grew super tall because with this adaptation they were able to reach the top of the plants to eat. I think a good improvement to simulate natural selection more realistically would be to have multiple changes at once, for example a new predator and a weather change. In the game they do one change for a course of years, in reality there are many changes all the time.  Another improvement could be to have an option for the animals to migrate. And lastly, including humans effects could improve the game because humans often alter animals natural environment. This feature could help people understand the effects of this and how much animals have to adapt to their environment being changed.