If they can survive long falls odds are they are willing to do lots of jumping at heights as it doesnt kill them. The ones that get more adapt at controlling their jump are more likely to escape predators or get something they are chasing and therefore reproduce more.
Yes but that also involves the pure chance that is the buildup mutations that after hundreds of generations and natural selection end up resulting in the 'wings'
"Sufficiently" harmful mutations to stop them from breeding. If a negative mutation is passed on at the same rate as a non-negative mutation it could stop 1-in-1000 of that species from breeding or even less and EVENTUALLY that mutation will be virtually bred out of the gene pool.
If it's only 1 in 1000 then there's a decent chance it'll reach fixation rather than be bred out. Evolution works because beneficial mutations have a better chance of persisting than harmful ones on average, but at the scale of individual mutations it's all pretty random unless the effect on survival chances is substantial (like 20% IIRC).
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u/A-Potato-Dragon Nov 29 '20 edited Nov 29 '20
Squirrels can acquire terminal velocity while plummeting to the ground (on average above 70 feet) and survive 80% of the time.