Allopatric speciation
Okay, so imagine you and your friend are playing in two different playgrounds that are really far apart. One day, you move to another town and start playing with a different group of kids at a different playground. Over time, you and your old friend start to look and act differently because you're exposed to different things and different environments.
Well, this is kind of like what happens in allopatric speciation! Sometimes, a group of animals or plants are separated from each other, maybe by a mountain range or a river or something else. Over time, they start to evolve in different ways because they're not able to mate with each other anymore. Eventually, they become so different that they're considered different species!
So, just like how you and your friend started to look and act differently because you were exposed to different things, animals and plants can start to look and act differently because they're exposed to different environments. And, just like how you and your friend couldn't mate anymore because you were in different towns, animals and plants that have evolved too much can't mate and make babies together either. That's allopatric speciation!
Well, this is kind of like what happens in allopatric speciation! Sometimes, a group of animals or plants are separated from each other, maybe by a mountain range or a river or something else. Over time, they start to evolve in different ways because they're not able to mate with each other anymore. Eventually, they become so different that they're considered different species!
So, just like how you and your friend started to look and act differently because you were exposed to different things, animals and plants can start to look and act differently because they're exposed to different environments. And, just like how you and your friend couldn't mate anymore because you were in different towns, animals and plants that have evolved too much can't mate and make babies together either. That's allopatric speciation!