![pocket mouse natural selection pocket mouse natural selection](https://sites.google.com/a/jeffcoschools.us/mr-cuthbertson/annoucements/22317labnaturalselectionrockpocketmice/Rock%20Pocket%20Colony%20Cards.jpg)
Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. The “Educator Materials” document provides suggested pause points in the film with questions for students, background information, and detailed discussion points a list of related resources and references and an answer key for the “Student Handout.” It provides an opportunity for students to analyze amino acid data and draw conclusions about the evolution of coat-color phenotypes in the rock pocket mouse. The “Student Handout” probes students’ understanding of the key concepts addressed in the film. This lesson serves as an extension to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute short film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation. It highlights the research of Michael Nachman, who has quantified predation on rock pocket mice and identified adaptive changes in coat-color genes that allow the mice to travel under the radar of hungry predators. This film uses the rock pocket mouse as a living example of Darwin’s process of natural selection. This activity explores physical and genetic evolutionary changes in rock pocket mouse populations, as discussed in the short film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation.