A species of fox lives in the arctic where the ground is covered in white snow most of the year. These arctic foxes hunt rodents and other small mammals, while their predators include eagles, wolves, and polar bears. A mutation in its DNA causes a fox to have white fur rather than brown. Given this information, would you classify this mutation as a harmful, beneficial, or neutral mutation? Would this make the fox more or less likely to survive? Explain your answer.%0D%0A%0D%0A %0D%0A%0D%0A(4 points)%0D%0ABoldItalicUnderline

Question

A species of fox lives in the arctic where the ground is covered in white snow most of the year.  These arctic foxes hunt rodents and other small mammals, while their predators include eagles, wolves, and polar bears.  A mutation in its DNA causes a fox to have white fur rather than brown.  Given this information, would you classify this mutation as a harmful, beneficial, or neutral mutation?  Would this make the fox more or less likely to survive?  Explain your answer.%0D%0A%0D%0A %0D%0A%0D%0A(4 points)%0D%0ABoldItalicUnderline

Bot GPT 3.5 · Answer

The mutation that causes a fox to have white fur instead of brown in the arctic environment would be classified as a beneficial mutation. This is because the white fur would provide the fox with better camouflage against the snowy background, making it harder for predators like eagles, wolves, and polar bears to spot them. This increased camouflage would increase the fox's chances of survival, as it would be able to better avoid being hunted by predators while hunting for its own prey. Therefore, this mutation would make the fox more likely to survive in its arctic environment, ultimately increasing its chances of passing on its genes to future generations.