Entikayrus: A Live Simulation of Evolution by Natural Selection
What would it take for a leaf-eating, house-cat-sized animal on a quiet island to turn into a monkey hunter? I built a small world to find out, and you can watch the answer unfold in your browser. Entikayrus (The creature's name is a play on my intitals: NTKrus) is invented, but the factors in the process that transforms it are real: variation, inheritance and natural selection, climbing, leaping, diet, Nobody tells it to climb, grow fangs or change its diet. It happens because some animals eat, escape and breed better than others. The idea Evolution by natural selection takes thousands of generations, but this computer simulation compresses 6000 generations into a few minutes. Basically, animals which have slightly different physical attributes that enable them to find more food, or avoid being eaten, will be more successful in breeding and passing on their genes. The young inherit their parents' differences. Repeat for a few thousand generations , and we will have...