The following table provides phenotypic data for a population of mammoths living in cold environments based on fossil and DNA evidence.

Question

Based on this data and your knowledge of natural selection, which explanation best explains the trends seen in the data?

(1 point)
Responses

This population of mammoths appear to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium since no allele frequencies are changing over time.
This population of mammoths appear to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium since no allele frequencies are changing over time.

Individuals with thicker fur had a survival advantage in the cold environment, allowing these individuals to reproduce more often and create more offspring.
Individuals with thicker fur had a survival advantage in the cold environment, allowing these individuals to reproduce more often and create more offspring.

Individuals with thick fur migrated into the population of mammoths, increasing the proportion of these individuals.
Individuals with thick fur migrated into the population of mammoths, increasing the proportion of these individuals.

Individuals within this population of mammoths tend to only mate with individuals that have thick fur.

Answer 1

The best explanation for the trends seen in the data is:

Individuals with thicker fur had a survival advantage in the cold environment, allowing these individuals to reproduce more often and create more offspring.

This response aligns with the principles of natural selection, where advantageous traits (in this case, thicker fur) increase an individual's fitness in a specific environment, leading to greater reproductive success and the passing on of those advantageous traits to future generations.