Mutational meltdown

Mutational meltdown is a very weird thing that can happen in a group of living things, like animals or plants. You know how you have different parts in your body and each part has a different job? Well, imagine that happening in a whole bunch of living things.

Now, when these living things reproduce, they pass on their genes to their babies, just like you got your hair color or eye color from your parents. Sometimes, though, these genes can change, which is called a mutation.

When a living thing has a lot of mutations, it can be harmful because it might not work as well as it used to. Imagine if your legs suddenly turned into arms – it would be hard to walk around on all fours instead of two legs, right?

So, when a lot of creatures in a group have lots of mutations, they might not be as strong as they once were. This is a big problem because they won't be able to survive and reproduce. And, if their babies also have lots of mutations, the problem will keep getting worse and worse until the group of creatures just can't make it anymore.

This is what we call a mutational meltdown – it's like a big snowball rolling down a hill and getting bigger and bigger until it's too big to stop.