The dilution of the effects of genetic mutation.

what prevents genetic mutations from been instantly diluted when occuring in a single representative of a species?Does the same genetic mutation occur several times across the board in a species. Or does the one gene carrier have to reproduce numerous times?And how does the mutated gene survive the reproduction process if the mutation provides an incompatible feature?For instance if I developed the ability to withstand malaria but only had one child and that child only had a couple of offspring when does the feature become a predominant one across a whole species?
If all cows have have hooves than that feature was some how shared widely to create a new species with millions of members that all reproduce compatibly.

I will try an elaborate on what I meant.If there are a million black and white dairy cows with hooves do they all originate from one original cow like creature that had a specific set of mutations to create the current appearance of the dairy cow?For instance if I had a baby that had green skin that trait could only be passed on through his offspring.Therefore doesn't that mean that every species can only descend from one pair? Unless two identical species can evolve alongside one another. Unless I'm missing the point somewhere.My essential point though is that it seems hard for a genetic mutation happening in isolation in one organism could become a widespread feature. Unless there were lots on inbreeding.

Would a striking feature such as the zebra's black and white stripes have occured in one mutation?And Why would a zebra without the stripes not survive also?I get the impression that any feature that survives is attributed to fitness but it seems that any trait that survives is not intending to survive so could have survived simply because it didn't have a negative effect.otherwise you'd imagine we'd all be super fit and not prone to drop dead from and infection or starve.I'm suprised anything has survived this long.

This is from wiki.;Zebra - Wikipedia

quote:

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A herd of zebras scattering to avoid a predator will also represent to that predator a confused mass of vertical stripes travelling in multiple directions making it difficult for the predator to track an individual visually as it separates from its herdmates, "although biologists have never observed lions appearing confused by zebra stripes."

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A more recent theory, supported by experiment, posits that the disruptive colouration is also an effective means of confusing the visual system of the blood-sucking tsetse fly.[5] Alternative theories include that the stripes coincide with fat patterning beneath the skin, serving as a thermoregulatory mechanism for the zebra, and that wounds sustained disrupt the striping pattern to clearly indicate the fitness of the animal to potential mates.

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If the stripes were effective when there was a mass of Zebras together then just one Zebra becoming striped would have stood out like a sore thumb.But my question is at what stage did the current Zebra become what it is? What was wrong with all the species that led up to the eventual Zebra?