Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is most often associated with the phrase, "survival of the fittest," although it was originally used by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Darwin used "survival of the fittest" as a sound bite for his theory of natural selection, which refers to the "preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."

Today, the phrase is often used to describe the behavior of people in certain situations--survival situations--whether referring to school, the workplace, a forest or mountain-top, or even a tropical island or the Australian bush where people out-survive each other by being the most manipulative.

Our site will introduce you to some survivors in literature as well as real survivors. Welcome to our site. We hope that you have what it takes to be a survivor!