And adapting to correct previous mistakes?
Well…from 538 Significant Digits:
136,000 years ago
About 136,000 years ago, the Aldabra Atoll sunk into the Indian Ocean. Tough news, then, for a bird called the white-throated rail, which had colonized the island and become flightless. However, scientists have discovered fossils from before and after the disappearance of Aldabra, demonstrating that the chicken-sized rail reappeared on the island when sea levels later dropped and again lost the ability to fly. It’s a process called iterative evolution — “the repeated evolution of a species from the same ancestor at different times in history.” [CNN]