Each of the following describes a real situation. Apply the theory of natural selection to explain how each situation has evolved. Explain why each of these is necessary if natural selection is to occur. Since these are real examples, you may be expected to know them, and the terminology that applies to them, on exams. For geometric reasons, animals with larger bodies have higher volume relative to surface area.
Heat is stored in an animal's volume, but gained or lost across the surface area.
Given these facts, explain why natural selection is expected to cause the observed latitudinal trend in body size. It is thought that predators learn or evolve to avoid these brightly colored, poisonous or venomous species. Explain how bright coloration would have evolved in poisonous or venomous species through natural selection. Some species of prey animals, eaten by predators, have bright coloration that is very similar to the bright coloration of a poisonous or venomous species. This phenomenon of a non-poisonous species resembling a poisonous species is called Batesian mimicry.