Question: Can mutations create new traits?
Eid Badr: The problem with your question is the definition of trait.
If you consider the ability to digest something that your stomach never digested before a new trait then yes mutations create new traits.
If you are asking about something like an animal that does not hair at all and does not produce hair at all to go through mutations and then produce hair then no, this is not possible.
Or for example if you are asking abotu something like an animal that does not have wings at all to go through mutations and then graudually have wings then not this is not possible and mutations cannot do that.
On Quora questions like this ask about brand new generally beneficial traits. Traits that are not only beneficial under certain conditions. For example E.Coli is able to activate a silent Citrate digestion gene using mutations but only if it is put in a citrate medium. And this is only beneficial when E.coli is put in a citrate medium, if this medium has no citrate then this mutation is not beneficial. So it is not generally beneficial for E.Coli to activate the Citrate digestion gene.
Another example would be becoming lactose tolerant or lactose intolerant. Either would be beneficial only under certain conditions, and that depends on your diet.
Mutations are not random.
Mutations cannot create brand new generally beneficial traits.
Mutations help species adapt to their diet and their environments and conditions.
Mutations cannot get a species or an individual out of its genome type to which it belong.
Mutations cannot transform a genome type to another genome type.
Humans had only human ancestors.
Moneys had only monkey ancestors.
E.Coli is still E.coli
Lizards are still lizards.
Finches are still finches.
Evolution is a myth.