Most of the bunnies found on the Tundra of Alaska are white. A scientist visiting this location observed only a couple of brown bunnies among this population. What is the most likely explanation for the appearance of the brown phenotype in this population?

Question

Most of the bunnies found on the Tundra of Alaska are white. A scientist visiting this location observed only a couple of brown bunnies among this population. What is the most likely explanation for the appearance of the brown phenotype in this population?

The weather got warmer and an ice melting happened last summer, causing the bunnies to evolve into brown bunnies.
These bunnies thought it was too cold in the snow so they adapted to have dark fur in order to stay warmer.
A genetic mutation occurred in a couple of the bunnies causing them to be brown. However, they were easily seen by predators in this environment, so they could not reproduce and pass that mutation onto their offspring.
The bunnies started eating a lot of brown pine needles.

Answer 1

The most likely explanation for the appearance of the brown phenotype in this population is that a genetic mutation occurred in a couple of the bunnies causing them to be brown. However, they were easily seen by predators in this environment, so they could not reproduce and pass that mutation onto their offspring. This would explain why there are only a couple of brown bunnies among the predominantly white population on the Tundra of Alaska.