Survival of the fittest

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/survival-of-the-fittest

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the original coiner?Herbert Spencer (1864)
2. What is the darwinian interpretation?Reproductive success; leaving the most copies of oneself in successive generations
3. What does "survival of the fittest" really mean?It means animals that have good traits for their environment can survive and have babies, passing those traits to the next generations.
4. Why is being strong not the only way to be "fit"?Fitness is about being good at living and reproducing in your own environment, not just being the strongest or most aggressive.

Natural Selection: The differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype.
Heritability: The proportion of phenotypic variation in a population that is attributable to genetic variation.
Adaptation: A trait that increases an organism's fitness in its environment, often arising through natural selection.