natural selection

/ˌnætʃərəl səˌlɛkʃən/

/ˈnætʃrəl sɪˈlɛkʃən/

Other forms: natural selections

Natural selection is the theory that only the strong survive. For example, the animals that can outrun their predators live to pass on their speedy genes; the slow are eaten.

Natural selection is part of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. England's peppered moth is a great example of natural selection. Before 1800, most peppered moths were light colored. Then came the Industrial Revolution. The soot from the factories darkened the once light-colored tree trunks, making the light moths immediately visible — and edible — to birds. Dark moths blended into the trees, surviving and having dark-colored young.

Definitions of natural selection

1. noun

   a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment
   synonyms: selection, survival, survival of the fittest

   type of:

   action, activity, natural action, natural process

   a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings)