Mutation and the Tree of Life

 1.  A mutation is a random change in an organism's DNA. This change can happen randomly and is due to changes that happen from the outside of the body or the inside! 

2. In the drawing below on the left you can see a regular Vamonbear and on the right is a Vamonbear with a mutation that caused white patches on the fur. This random mutation happened due to perhaps a lack of melanin, which is a dark pigment in humans and animals. This mutation could be beneficial, harmful, or neutral. The way this mutation could be beneficial would be if Vamonbears with spots were able to have a higher reproduction rate, resulting in more Vamonbears with spots due to the white patches helping with camouflaging. The way it would be harmful would be if the bears with spots would not survive because the spots made them more visible to predators. How this mutation would be neutral would be if there were no difference in the survival rates of these two different Vamonbears. In the next years, the individuals with white patches could become the most common Vamonbears because they were able to survive more then those without white patches, or they could stay neutral and continue to survive at lower numbers in the Vamonbear population and if the white patches seem to not be helping much with camouflage after all they will die off and the solid color Vamonbear's will be greater in number.