The idea that natural selection might explain the rise of the dark moths was suggested in the late 19th century.

Natural selection explains why living organisms change over time to have the anatomy, the functions and behaviour that they have.

Natural selection explains success in various animal populations as the outcome of competition between individual organisms for limited resources.

Charles Darwin hypothesized that sexual selection, or competition within a species for mates, can explain observed differences between sexes in many species.

He did not believe that natural selection could explain biological novelty, positing instead the acquisition and inheritance of microbes as central.

Wallace believed natural selection could not explain intelligence or morality in the human being so suggested that non-material spiritual forces accounted for these.

Another view, advanced by Geoffrey Miller, is that sexual selection explains the evolutionary push toward intelligence.

It also states that design fails to account for complexity, which natural selection can explain.

Intelligent design proponents do question whether random mutation and natural selection completely explain the deep structure of life.

For Darwin, natural selection could not explain the evolution of the peacock's tail.