Skip to content
SimulatorsIn3D

Home Animal Evolution Simulator

Animal Evolution SimulatorWatch animals learn to walk, and natural selection reshape an island.
About this evolution simulator

Animal Evolution Simulator: watch natural selection happen

How do animals evolve? Thirty random creatures made of joints and muscles race for twelve seconds. The ones that get furthest have young that copy their genes with small mutations, and within minutes the twitching blobs learn to walk, run or jump. Race the champions of each generation side by side. Then visit the island of critters, where hawks, foxes, food and climate drive camouflage, peppered moths, giraffe necks, island dwarfs and new species.

3D race track where evolved creatures made of red joints and pink muscles race in lanes labelled Gen 1, Gen 5, Gen 10, Gen 20 and Gen 30; the generation 30 champion leads wearing a gold crown

How to use the animal evolution simulator

  1. Creature lab: 30 random creatures made of joints, bones and muscles race for 12 seconds. The better half survive; their young copy their genes with small mutations. Within 10–20 generations they learn to walk. Race the champions puts the best of generation 1 next to today’s best.
  2. Island of critters: ask a question, the island sets up the right world and the critters start living, eating, breeding and dying. The card explains what is happening, with the numbers.
  3. Each critter carries genes for colour, size, speed, neck reach, best temperature and (for bacteria) antibiotic resistance. Babies copy their parent with small random mutations.
  4. World tab: change the ground, hawks, foxes, food, mutation, warming or antibiotic. Data tab: watch a trait change over generations.

Nothing in the simulation pushes a trait in any direction, change happens only because some critters survive and breed more than others.