Welcome to Natural Selection – Peppered Moths.
A highly interactive simulation which investigates 
natural selection during changes in the environment 
experienced by peppered moths.
After the title and license screens, we are 
presented with the help dialog.  
Links to other online help and recommended 
student experiments are displayed together with 
some useful information.
This help dialog can be accessed at any time from 
the help menu above.
On first entering the program we are presented 
with the New Experiment dialog.
Here the initial moth population can be controlled. 
Initially 15 light coloured and 15 dark melanic 
peppered moths are displayed.
The relative number of the moths can be changed 
using either the up and down arrows or simply 
editing the fields.
An option to have smart moths, which carefully 
choose where to hide on the tree, is selected by 
default. 
Lighter moths rest on the light lichens while the 
darker moths seek shade or darker areas. 
I recommend you leave this option on unless you 
are conducting an experiment which requires it to 
be off. 
 If off the moths would randomly settle on the 
branches.
Environmental condition may be selected at this 
time.
Natural forest – contains trees with extensive lichen 
growth and represents the forest in the preindustrial 
period.
Polluted Forest – contains trees with darkened 
branches and trunks as a result of industrialisation.
Pollution Controlled – shows the effects of pollution 
laws which saw the lightening of trees over a 
period of time.
At this stage you can also load saved experiments, 
which have not been completed or have been set 
up by teachers
To start the simulation click OK
You are now a moth eating predatory bird.Your 
objective is to eat 10 moths as fast as possible. 
The longer you take the fewer bonus points you will 
acquire.
To eat a moth, point the tip of the bird’s beak on the 
moth and click the mouse.
Under normal conditions the darker moths are 
easier to spot than the lighter ones, however, the 
lighter ones can still be seen and eaten.  
Lighter moths just take more time to spot and you 
end up with fewer bonus points at the end.
We can see here the moth in the bird’s beak and 
when the mouse is moved the bird swallows the 
moth and is ready to eat the next.
Once you have eaten 10 moths you are shown the 
Next Generation dialog.
This is a good chance to explore the rest of our 
console before continuing.
Along the bottom we have the New Experiment 
button with the flask icon. You can start a new 
experiment at any time by selecting this button.
Next we have the forest environment display and 
the number of generations so far.
Next we have the forest environment display and 
the number of generations so far.
Your score is the total of your bonuses in each 
generation so far.
The forest button brings you back to the main 
display.
Graphs and data are best observed during the 
New Generation dialog, as viewing them while you 
are eating the moths will reduce your score.
Now for the side panels.
You may be viewing this video from the” Learn to 
Use” page, however, additional videos may also be 
added to this page in the future.
At the top is the Quick Tips panel which covers 
many of the items I’ve mentioned.
The My Scores panel, allows you to view your 
scores and times in each generation. 
You may wish to compete with others in the class or 
your teacher may choose to eliminate those with 
the lowest scores after each generation.
Returning to the Next Generation dialog, we can 
see the surviving moths from the last generation, 
which have bred. 
The parents don’t survive until the next generation 
and the offspring displayed are those which survive 
through the various stages to become adults.
Unlike the New Experiment dialog, the relative 
numbers can’t be changed between generations.
You can change the smart moth option and the 
Environmental conditions if you wish.
We’ll change the environment to Industrial Pollution 
and click continue.
We can see that the industrial pollution has killed 
