Darwin's finches and his ideas on evolution
It is said that when visiting the Galapagos, Charles Darwin discovered the theory of evolution. This is wrong, as I have already said. In fact, Charles did not create the idea of evolution, (Jean Baptiste de Lamarck created the idea of evolution) or even think about while in his stay. What Darwin actually created was his theory of natural selection. Natural selection was why evolution actually existed. Before that some people just thought that evolution might exist. Darwin’s theory was that the animals would be more likely to survive if they adapted and evolved to suit their environment. When Darwin published his theory some 25 years after his visit, he made himself unpopular with the church, but within about 10 years most scientists or biologists had admitted that Darwin’s theory was very likely.
Though Darwin only visited four islands, (San Cristobal, Floreana, Santiago, and Isabela) he saw what he thought were completely different species of finches, but are actually the same family. When on the Galapagos Islands, Darwin paid little attention to the finches, but when he got back to England he found that though the finches looked different, they actually belonged to the same family. This realisation helped Darwin fund his idea of natural selection. There are 14 sub species in the Galapagos Islands, of Darwin’s finch. The most obvious difference of the finches is their beaks. The finches that have to crack open seeds to eat them have bigger beaks, and the finches that eat bugs and grubs have thinner beaks. All were thought to have migrated from the mainland, South America. |