Who Wants to Live a Million Years? Q&A

1. How many generations did it take for you to finally win a game? Why do you think it took this long? What do you think this means/suggests for most real species on Earth in terms of their species's chances of long-term survival?  

It took me about 5 generations to win the game. I think it took me that long because I was still figuring out the pros and flaws of each character in different situations.  This suggests that most real species on earth can have different chances of long term survival depending on the environment, climate, and situation.

2. Which initial phenotypes/phenotype combinations did you select and why?Which starting/initial combinations seemed to allow you to continue/survive the longest (win the most games)? Why do you think this was so?

The initial phenotypes that I chose most of the time were the characters with some fur, long legs, and stripes characters with some fur had a better chance in hot and cold weather and long legs aloud the characters to be tall and fast and the stripes camouflage them from predators.These were also the initial starting combinations I chose and the one that won the most games.

3. Do you think this population of theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by genetic drift? What evidence of drift did you see as you played the game (simulation)?

I agree that the population of fke creatures would be affected by genetic drift because during the game the animals go through a series of changes in the environment. For instance, as the temperatures dropped the animals quickly had to adapt by growing thick fur and increasing in size.

4. Which alleles/phenotypes seemed to be dominant and which seemed to be recessive? How could you tell?

The most dominant phenotypes that the animals seemed to pass on the most was hard to pin point exactly, but the ones i saw the most were animals with thick fur and longer necks. The recessive phenotypes were usually the stripes compared to all the other genes.

5. Match the environments/situations/conditions below with their corresponding adaptations:

(a) cold conditions; (b) hot conditions; (c) new large predator on the scene; (d) new tall food source

When the environment got cold the animals needed thick fur and larger size. When temperatures get too hot the animals either needed some fur or none at all. If a predator came upon the animals stripes and longer legs were necessary for camouflage and speed. If a new food source is tll the animals had to adapt with longer necks or longer legs to reach the food.

6. How would you improve this simulation to more realistically represent natural selection and biological evolution? Discuss at least three improvements.

If I were to improve this game I would include more natural disasters like floods or droughts to make situations harder for the animals. I would also add more variety in the animal combinations because they were limited in the game. Lastly I would include more environments to allow players to survive in different biomes like jungles, deserts, and even under water.