• 1. The mechanism of evolution
• 2. Evolution by Natural Selection

Natural Selection: 3. Example of wooly mammoths

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A wooly mammoth. It has several adaptations for the cold: a wooly coat of hair all over it, a large body mass and lots of fat under its skin.

A good example of natural selection is the evolution of the wooly mammoth. Mammoths are closely related to elephants and split from them around 4 million years ago. Wooly mammoths thrived in cold, northern parts of the world from about 350,000 years ago until they went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

So how did wooly mammoths evolve from their hairless, big-eared elephant cousins?

When mammoths found themselves in a colder environment, mammoths with variations that equipped them against the cold were better able to survive. Extra hair would have been a disadvantage on the African plains, but in colder climates even a slight increase in hairiness would have been an advantage. Each small increase in hair would have been selected for, until the mammoth was entirely wooly.

Other adaptions include more body fat, bigger size and smaller ears (African elephants use their big ears to dissipate their body heat, but this is a disadvantage in a frigid climate).