Because the birds used to live on an archipelago, this suggests that, like
Darwin's finches, they may have evolved to suit different living conditions on different islands - with a very strong identifier being their beaks.
The Big Bird population belongs to a group of finch species are collectively known as
Darwin's finches and helped Darwin to uncover the process of evolution by natural selection
The 13 Galapagos species of
Darwin's Finches manifest various degrees of evolution upon their beak, having different shapes and sizes for each species in order to gobble different types of foods (hence evolution):
Natural selection can sometimes work one gene at time, a new study of
Darwin's finches suggests.
40 Years of Evolution:
Darwin's Finches on Daphne Major Island
During and after completing his undergraduate degree in 1933, he took part in several ornithological expeditions; he became a schoolmaster; he next enjoyed a career-changing four months on the Galapagos Islands in 1938-1939, writing a much-quoted book on
Darwin's Finches from his work there.
Another example are
Darwin's finches, whose beaks evolved over millions of years with changes in birdsong, an important mating signal, and thus contributed to the rise of new and distinct finch species.
To explore the rugged volcanic terrain and see marine iguanas, giant tortoises,
Darwin's finches and other marvels of nature - it was like my illustrated Origin of Species come to fife, It was an awe-inspiring experience to stand on the beach where Darwin first made landfall in the Galapagos.
Whether it's
Darwin's finches, Lake Malawi's cichlids or Australia's marsupials, they all have one thing in common--they have diversified to suit their environments.
You're likely to see flamingos and green sea turtles, flightless cormorants, bright marine iguanas, Espanola lava lizards, hood mockingbirds, swallow-tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, redbilled tropicbirds, Galapagos hawks,
Darwin's finches, waved albatross and even penguins, dolphins, shark and whales.
Darwin mentioned mockingbirds, but not finches, in On the Origin of Species (1859), and it was David Lack's classic,
Darwin's Finches (1947), that made Darwin's name synonymous with the Galapagos finches.
FOR those viewers silly enough to miss last week's series opener, more fool you, for host Jimmy Doherty took a fascinating look at
Darwin's Finches and Dippy the Diplodocus in his examination of some of the more intriguing artefacts at London's Natural History Museum.
