Genetic Change In Mice

The first video starts off by showing the change of the New Mexico’s Valley of Fire’s land. It had changed because of volcano eruptions that occurred about 1,000 years ago. It made a river of lava over 40 miles long through the dessert. When the lava cooled off, it left the ground black leaving animals that needed camouflage in trouble. The rock pocket mouse uses the dessert sands for protection because it blends in with it. When the mouse moves onto the black ground it stands out to the predators. Most of the animals that eat these mice are visual predators. When the experts start to collect the mice in traps they find out that the mice are starting too become darker. The mice that are living on the dark rocks have adapted their fur color so that they do not stand out to predators. When a darker mouse shows up in a lighter population of mice is usually due to a new mutation. These events are rare and at random. …show more content…
A mutation is a change in letters that make up our genes. It is a copying error that happens when our cells divide. Mutations are neither good or bad. The change of colors in the mice comes down to four chemical letters. The mutation has spread very quickly in the mice due to how many offspring’s the mice have each year. This experiment is a perfect example of Darwin’s process of natural selection. They found out that the mutation was random but random selection was not. This was proven when he used other areas where there were more black rocks to find the same change happen with the mice. The genes of the two different mice found in separate black rock locations were different but they both looked identical. Natural selection the none random part of evolution, can under very similar conditions, favor very similar adaptations. The mice show that evolution can and does repeat itself. As the environment transforms so do the species that live