There are three stages in The Evolutionary Cycle; Physical Mutation, Mechanical Adaptation, and Behavioral Adaptation.
Simple life on this planet evolves by random events, jumping from one Physical Mutation to the next. An example of such simple life is bacteria. This initial stage of evolution is highly inaccurate and requires an immeasurable amount of failure before there is a single success.
More complex life has two stages of the evolutionary cycle; Physical Mutation and Mechanical Adaptation. An example of an individual in this category is the Fiddler Crab. A random event causes a Physical Mutation, that is then measured in terms of mechanical functionality. This is different from a bacteria that jumps from Physical Mutation to Physical Mutation in that the bacteria can only survive and reproduce, while the Fiddler Crab may experience a mutation that is not used mechanically until the environment shifts, or the crab incidentally makes use of the change. A primate first using the thumb that it had for generations is another example – having the thumb is the Physical Mutation, using it to grasp is the Mechanical Adaptation.
Humans enjoy all three stages of the evolutionary cycle; Physical Mutation, Mechanical Adaptation, and Behavioral Adaptation. A convenient example is a person buying a computer (Physical Mutation), then they must learn how to use it (Mechanical Adaptation), and then they fit the computer into their daily lives (Behavioral Adaptation). And how they adapt the computer into their lives will affect the next computer they buy. If the person never takes the time to learn how to use the computer, they most likely will never buy a second one. And, if two people bought the exact same first computer, and one played video games while the other wrote novels, their second computers would be completely different from one another.
Each increasing step up in The Evolutionary Cycle causes an acceleration in the process of evolution. This acceleration has caused gaps in the fossil record.