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Over Time, Even Slight Advantages Can Become Dominant
You might think that only those physical traits that present major evolutionary advantages would become dominant in a species. Darwin, however, found this was not the case. Even a trait that slightly improves an organism’s chances of surviving and reproducing, and that can be inherited by its offspring, has a good chance of being passed down through the generations.
For example, if a gene happens to make some squirrels slightly faster than others, it can be passed down. As long as it presents even a tiny advantage and it is heritable, this genetic difference could come to dominate the entire species in generations to come.
