On the Origin of Species

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   Creatures that fit their environment a bit better leave more offspring, and over many generations, these small differences reshape whole species.

   On the Origin of Species · 1859

   Species evolve by the gradual accumulation of small advantages in individuals that reproduce more.

   Picture wild rabbits: the slightly faster ones escape foxes more often and have more babies. With each generation, the remaining rabbits are, on average, a little faster. Darwin called this slow process natural selection — nobody directs it, yet it has shaped life on Earth for millions of years.

   “This preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection.”

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