Evolution Simulator
Creatures eat, reproduce with mutations, and die. Watch traits evolve over time.
Evolution Simulation: How Species Change Over Time
This evolution simulation demonstrates the core mechanisms that drive biological change over time: mutation introduces heritable variation, natural selection filters that variation based on environmental fit, and genetic drift causes random fluctuation in small populations. Students observe how trait distributions in a population shift across many generations in response to selective pressures, building intuition for why evolution is gradual, non-directional, and population-level. It is designed as a free interactive resource for high school and introductory college biology.
What you can do in this simulation
- Introduce mutations at a controlled rate and watch new trait variants appear in the population
- Apply selective pressure by changing the environment and observe which traits increase in frequency
- Toggle genetic drift to see how small population size amplifies random changes in allele frequency
- Run hundreds of simulated generations quickly to visualize long-term evolutionary trajectories
- Compare populations isolated in different environments to see divergence over time
Concepts covered
natural selection · mutation · genetic drift · allele frequency · adaptation · evolutionary biology
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