Favourable characteristics which help an organism survive and reproduce are referred to as what?

• A. Adaptation
• B. Natural Selection
• C. Survival of the Fittest
• D. Mutation

Answer: (C)

Favourable characteristics that help an organism survive and reproduce are called adaptations. An adaptation is a heritable trait that increases fitness in a given environment. The phrase “survival of the fittest” describes the outcome of natural selection—organisms with advantageous traits tend to leave more offspring—but it isn’t the name for the traits themselves. Natural selection is the process that makes these adaptations more common over generations, while mutation is a source of new trait variation. So the best answer is adaptation.