Why the research is important Why the research is important Darwin’s finches are still the best animals from which to learn about how vertebrates evolve in the wild. Earthwatch volunteers played a key role in this study, helping researchers to monitor changes in Darwin’s finches on two Galapagos Islands. Earthwatch volunteers studied how Darwin’s finches continue to evolve in relation to another immigrant to the Galapagos: the Philornis downsi fly. This species probably came to the Galapagos on cargo ships in the 1960s. As an adult, the fly eats fruit. But it lays its eggs in finch nests, and once they hatch, the larvae feed on the blood and tissue of the nestlings. Since 2000, researchers have observed alarmingly high nestling mortality, with anywhere from 30 to 98 percent of chicks dying each year. The research focused on two related issues: how best to control the Philornis parasite, and how physical changes due to Philornis are shaping evolutionary change in Darwin’s finches. Darwin’s finches are considered to be the world’s fastest-evolving vertebrates.

Earthwatch volunteers worked closely with researchers to increase annual monitoring efforts of finch populations across islands to keep close track of how their populations fared as control programs for Philornis were implemented. Their work helped save Darwin’s finches from extinction: birds that have provided humankind with transformative insights about evolutionary processes and dynamics, and that are still the best animals from which to learn about how vertebrates evolve in the wild. About the research area Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Ecuador, South America The Galapagos Islands lie about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) off the coast of Ecuador. The climate is hot during the day and cooler at night. The sea around the islands is home to abundant life, including rays, turtles, sea lions, whales, dolphins, and seabirds such as the magnificent frigate bird, the lava gull, and the swallow-tailed gull. The islands offer some of the best scuba diving and snorkeling in the world. Visitors can swim among tropical fish, turtles, marine iguanas, and even penguins, while blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans dive into the water around them. On the land, an amazing diversity of species have adapted to the local conditions.

In addition to Darwin’s finches, there are giant tortoises and spectacular songbirds such as the vermillion flycatcher. The plants are just as interesting. In the highlands, you can see trees that evolved from daisies and are covered in colorful mosses and lichens, while in the lowlands there are many cacti. The Galapagos Islands Daily life in the field Itinerary Day 1: Arrival at the Charles Darwin Research Centre, introductions Days 2-6: Fieldwork: mist netting finches, monitoring nests, recording songs and finch behavior, etc. Day 7: Departure The volunteers rose at about 5:30 A.M. to work in small groups rotating among research tasks. They helped catch and release finches from mist nets and record finches’ song. They helped monitor nests, including searching for nests, using a GPS unit to mark nest positions, checking nests for finch activity, setting up and checking miniature cameras in the nests, and collecting and disassembling used nests to count the parasite larvae and pupae.

They also recorded behavior at the nests, such as singing, guarding mates, incubating eggs, and feeding nestlings by the finches and activity of finch predators. As part of a land-bird monitoring program in partnership with the Galapagos National Park, the volunteers helped researchers visit 20 survey points per habitat per island to record five minutes of bird activity per point. Recreational activities included visits to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, Tortuga Bay, the pirate caves, and the tortoise breeding center. Darwin’s finches speciated into 14 species in under 2 million years. Evolution: Library: Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches Backgrounder Adaptive Radiation: Darwin's Finches: When Charles Darwin stepped ashore on the Galapagos Islands in September 1835, it was the start of five weeks that would change the world of science, although he did not know it at the time. Among other finds, he observed and collected the variety of small birds that inhabited the islands, but he did not realize their significance, and failed to keep good records of his specimens and where they were collected.

It was not until he was back in London, puzzling over the birds, that the realization that they were all different, but closely related, species of finch led him toward formulating the principle of natural selection . In his memoir, The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin noted, almost as if in awe, "One might really fancy that, from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends." Indeed, the Galapagos have been called a living laboratory where speciation can be seen at work. A few million years ago, one species of finch migrated to the rocky Galapagos from the mainland of Central or South America. From this one migrant species would come many -- at least 13 species of finch evolving from the single ancestor. This process in which one species gives rise to multiple species that exploit different niches is called adaptive radiation. The ecological niches exert the selection pressures that push the populations in various directions. On various islands, finch species have become adapted for different diets: seeds, insects, flowers, the blood of seabirds, and leaves. The ancestral finch was a ground-dwelling, seed-eating finch.

After the burst of speciation in the Galapagos, a total of 14 species would exist: three species of ground-dwelling seed-eaters; three others living on cactuses and eating seeds; one living in trees and eating seeds; and 7 species of tree-dwelling insect-eaters. Scientists long after Darwin spent years trying to understand the process that had created so many types of finches that differed mainly in the size and shape of their beaks. Most recently, Peter and Rosemary Grant have spent many years in the Galapagos, seeing changing climatic conditions from year to year dramatically altering the food supply. As a result, certain of the finches have lived or died depending on which species' beak structure was best adapted for the most abundant food -- just as Darwin would have predicted. Charles Darwin's Finches and the Theory of Evolution By Heather Scoville Darwin's Voyage Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. When he was a young man, Darwin set out on a voyage on the HMS Beagle . The ship sailed from England in late December of 1831 with Charles Darwin aboard as the crew's naturalist.

The voyage was to take the ship around South America with many stops along the way. It was Darwin's job to study the local flora and fauna, collecting samples and making observations he could take back to Europe with him of such a diverse and tropical location. The crew made it to South America in a few short months, after a brief stop in the Canary Islands . Darwin spent most of his time on land collecting data. They stayed for more than three years on the continent of South America before venturing on to other locations. The next celebrated stop for the HMS Beagle was the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador . Galapagos Islands Charles Darwin and the rest of the HMS Beagle crew spent only five weeks in the Galapagos Islands, but the research performed there and the species Darwin brought back to England were instrumental in the formation of a core part of the original theory of evolution and Darwin's ideas on natural selection which he published in his first book On the Origin of Species . continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Darwin studied the geology of the region along with giant tortoises that were indigenous to the area.

Perhaps the best known of Darwin's species he collected while on the Galapagos Islands were what are now called "Darwin's Finches". In reality, these birds are not really part of the finch family and are thought to probably actually be some sort of blackbird or mockingbird. However, Darwin was not very familiar with birds, so he killed and preserved the specimens to take back to England with him where he could collaborate with an ornithologist . Finches and Evolution The HMS Beagle continued to sail on to as far away lands as New Zealand before returning to England in 1836. It was back in Europe when he enlisted in the help of John Gould, a celebrated ornithologist in England. Gould was surprised to see the differences in the beaks of the birds and identified the 14 different specimens as actual different species - 12 of which were brand new species. He had not seen these species anywhere else before and concluded they were unique to the Galapagos Islands. The other, similar, birds Darwin had brought back from the South American mainland were much more common, but different than the new Galapagos species. Charles Darwin did not come up with the Theory of Evolution on this voyage.

As a matter of fact, his grandfather Erasmus Darwin had already instilled the idea that species change through time in Charles. However, the Galapagos finches helped Darwin solidify his idea of natural selection . The favorable adaptations of Darwin's Finches' beaks were selected for over generations until they all branched out to make new species . These birds, although nearly identical in all other ways to mainland finches, had different beaks. Their beaks had adapted to the type of food they ate in order to fill different niches on the Galapagos Islands. Their isolation on the islands over long periods of time made them undergo speciation . Charles Darwin then began to disregard the previous thoughts on evolution put forth by Jean Baptiste Lamarck who claimed species spontaneously generated from nothingness. Darwin wrote about his travels in the book The Voyage of the Beagle and fully explored the information he gained from the Galapagos Finches in his most famous book On the Origin of Species. It was in that publication that he first discussed how species changed over time, including divergent evolution , or adaptive radiation , of the Galapagos finches.

BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Charles Darwin Next Darwin's theory of evolution explains how species of living things have changed over geological time. The theory is supported by evidence from fossils, and by the rapid changes that can be seen to occur in microorganisms such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Many species have become extinct in the past and the extinction of species continues to happen. Charles Darwin Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) Charles Darwin was an English naturalist. He studied variation in plants and animals during a five-year voyage around the world in the 19th century. He explained his ideas about evolution in a book called On the Origin of Species, which was published in 1859. Darwin's ideas caused a lot of controversy, and this continues to this day, because the ideas can be seen as conflicting with religious views about the creation of the world and creatures in it. Darwin's finches Darwin studied the wildlife on the Galápagos Islands - a group of islands on the equator almost 1,000 kilometres west of Ecuador.

He noticed that the finches - songbirds - on the different islands there were fundamentally similar to each other, but showed wide variations in their size, beaks and claws from island to island. For example, their beaks were different depending on the local food source. Darwin concluded that, because the islands are so distant from the mainland, the finches that had arrived there in the past had changed over time. Darwin's drawings of the different heads and beaks he found among the finches on the Galapagos Islands Darwin studied hundreds more animal and plant species. After nearly 30 years of research, in 1858 he proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection. Page: Darwin’s Finches: An opportunity to observe evolution in action | Death of a Million Trees Death of a Million Trees Darwin’s Finches: An opportunity to observe evolution in action August 28, 2012 The finches on the Galápagos Islands are called Darwin’s finches because of the important role they played in the development of his theory of natural selection and evolution of species. Galapagos Islands, satellite photo. Daphne Major is too small to be visible.

Charles Darwin spent five weeks on the Galápagos Islands in 1835, near the end of a five year expedition. Although he noticed the similarity of the birds on the different islands, he didn’t realize they were all related to one common ancestor until he returned home. Fortunately, he collected many specimens of the birds to bring home for study. It wasn’t until those specimens were examined by an ornithologist that he learned they were 13 species of finches, distinguished primarily by variations in the size of the bird and its beak size and shape. Unfortunately, he hadn’t recorded which islands the specimens were from, so the implications of their differences were somewhat of a mystery. He lamented in Voyage of the Beagle, “It is the fate of every voyager, when he has just discovered what object in any place is most particularly worthy of his attention, to be hurried from it.” But Darwin was no dummy, so despite lacking the data necessary to prove his point, he speculated in his memoir, “…in the thirteen species of ground-finches, a nearly perfect gradation may be traced from a beak extraordinarily thick, to one so fine, that it may be compared to that of a warbler.

I very much suspect that certain members of the series are confined to different islands…” Such development of new species from a common ancestor in response to varying environmental conditions is called adaptive radiation. Species also diverge from one another to reduce competition by specializing in a particular food forage type or technique. Nearly 200 years later, science has proven Darwin’s hunch, but just as he had no way of knowing how long this process of speciation took, modern science still cannot answer that question. Darwin’s finches continue to change in response to changing conditions Large ground finch (Geospiza magnirostris). Linda Hall Library Rosemary and Peter Grant have studied the finches on two Galápagos Islands (Daphne Major & Genovesa) for about thirty years. Nearly every year they visited the finches, weighing and measuring every appendage of the birds, especially their beaks. They banded the birds so they could follow their breeding success. They also measured their food: how much food but more importantly how accessible the food is to the birds such as the difficulty of opening seeds. The availability and type of food is what determines the shape and size of the birds’ beaks.

In a year in which there is plenty of rain, there is usually plenty of food which is relatively easy for the birds to eat. When it doesn’t rain, the birds are reduced to the difficult task of trying to crack open a large, hard seed pod. That’s when a big bird with a big beak has an advantage. Extreme weather is therefore a “selection event,” a time when not every bird is equipped to survive. And the birds that survive are best equipped for those extreme conditions. When the conditions improve, the bird that survived the hard time is not necessarily best equipped for the good times. These are the principles of natural selection, but they were largely theoretical until the Grants spent many years watching the birds and how they survived such selection events. They had the good fortune to witness two such events in the first twelve years of their study. The drought In the fifth year of the Grants’ study, 1977, there was a severe drought. After one short storm in early January, there was no more rain for the remainder of the year. In January, there were 1,300 finches on the island they studied that year.

At the end of the year, there were less than 300 finches left on the island. The Grants measured and weighed the birds that survived the drought. Then they returned to their lab at Princeton University to study their data: Not a single finch was born and survived on the island in 1977 The surviving birds were 5-6% larger than the dead birds The average beak size of the birds that survived was 11.07 mm long and 9.96 mm deep. The average beak size of the birds that did not survive was 10.68 mm long and 9.42 mm deep. These critical differences were too small to see with the naked eye, but became evident when the measurements were analyzed by computer. This makes a strong case for scientific measurement verses anecdotal observation, which passes for “evidence” amongst native plant advocates. Few female birds survived the drought, presumably because male birds are larger than females. In the years following that drought, sexual selection played an important role in maintaining the population of larger birds with larger beaks. Because the female birds were scarce, they could be very selective in their mates. Who did they choose?

Of course, they chose the males with the traits that allowed the birds to survive the drought year. When the ratio of males to females is more even, sexual selection plays a less important role in natural selection in monogamous species such as the finches. The flood Here on the West Coast, we are familiar with the weather phenomenon of El Niño, the nickname given to a heavy rain year resulting from an unusually warm ocean current. In 1983, we experienced the strongest El Niño on record, as did the Galápagos Islands. In 1983, the Grants witnessed the reversal of the results of the 1977 drought: “Natural selection had swung around against the birds from the other side. Big birds with big beaks were dying. Small birds with small beaks were flourishing. Selection has flipped.” * Lessons learned Darwin’s finches give us reason for optimism about the future. Nature can and will respond to changes in the environment. Natural selection is not just an historical process that stopped when The Origin of Species was written nearly 200 years ago. Natural selection is operating at all times, whether we notice it or not.

However, the loss of nearly 80% of the birds on a Galápagos Island during a severe drought is not cause for celebration. Although the species survived, hundreds of individual birds did not. So, we are quick to add that our confidence in the adaptive abilities of nature is not an argument for abusing the environment. Climate change has caused extreme weather events which are undoubtedly selection events for many species of plants and animals. Unless we take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions we can predict more of such events. Destroying millions of trees solely because they are not native is irresponsible given the contribution their destruction makes to the greenhouse gases causing climate change. ************************* Charles Darwin in Galapagos - Galapagos Islands .com NATURAL HISTORY CHARLES DARWIN IN THE GALAPAGOS EVOLUTION HUMAN & MODERN HISTORY Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Perhaps our first association with the word "Galapagos" is the name "Darwin." Darwin's visit to the Galapagos Islands had a resounding impact on the formation of his Theory of Natural Selection . A rather unmotivated and failing medical scholar, Charles Darwin accompanied Captain Robert Fitzroy as a travel companion and naturalist on the HMS Beagle.

His book the Voyage of the Beagle is an account of his worldwide journey. When setting off from England in 1831 for a five-year voyage, Darwin had little ambitions for groundbreaking scientific research. After surveying the coasts of South America, the ship stopped over in the Galapagos Islands. During his visit to the islands, Darwin noted that the unique creatures were similar from island to island, but perfectly adapted to their environments which led him to ponder the origin of the islands' inhabitants. Among those that struck Darwin so greatly were the finches that are now named in his honor. Darwin would later base some of his thought from the supposing that these finches were all descendents of the same lineage. Years later in 1859, Darwin finally consolidated all of his observations into his famous book On The Origin of Species, drastically and controversially altering the scientific view on the biological origins of life. For more information on Charles Darwin, see our links section. Birds | About Galapagos © Greg Courter Birds The Galapagos archipelago is surrounded by thousands of miles of open ocean, which provide seabirds with a prominent place in the fauna of the islands.

There are nineteen resident species (five are endemic), most of which are seen by visitors. There may be as many as 750,000 seabirds in Galapagos, including thirty percent of the world’s blue-footed boobies, the world’s largest red-footed booby colony, and perhaps the largest concentration of Nazca boobies in the world. Few species of land birds inhabit the Galapagos, and twenty-two of the twenty-nine resident species are endemic to the islands. Their presence in Galapagos, however, is difficult to explain. They may have arrived by strong winds, although luck must have played a big part. Those travelers who are not birders or who feel that birds are “nice, but uninteresting,” are in for a most pleasant surprise. For the most part, land birds are not exciting by appearance, as they generally are rather dull-colored. However, their “tameness” is unsurpassed, which makes them a pleasure to watch. In addition, the members of the nesting seabird communities of the Galapagos Islands are most unusual, both visually and behaviorally interesting, as well as extremely entertaining.

MEET THE BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS Galapagos Penguin Most penguins are associated with the colder regions of the Southern Hemisphere, but the cool Humboldt Current flowing from Antarctica along the South American coast enables the Galapagos penguin, the most northerly penguin in the world, to live here. Although they normally breed on the western part of Isabela and Fernandina, a small colony is often seen by visitors at Bartolomé. They are also occasionally present on Floreana and James as well. Breeding can occur year-round; two broods a year are possible under good conditions. Colonies are small and not tightly packed with nests. This flightless bird is one of five endemic seabirds in the islands. A penguin’s clumsiness on land belies its skill and speed underwater. The best way to appreciate their agility is to snorkel with them; it is a lot of fun, but do not even try to keep up, as a penguin underwater is amazingly quick! Waved Albatross One of the world’s most graceful flying birds is the magnificent waved albatross, which amazingly, can spend years at sea without touching land.

It is the largest bird in the islands, averaging 3 feet in length, up to an 8 feet wingspan, and reaching up to 11 pounds in weight. Apart from a few pairs which have bred on Isla de la Plata, off the Ecuadorian coast, the entire world population of some 12,000 pairs nests on Hood. Egg laying occurs from mid-April to late June, and the colonies are active, with parents feeding their single young through December. When the fledged bird finally leaves the nest, it does not return for 4 or 5 years. From January to March, all the birds remain at sea. The waved albatross engages in one of the most spectacular ritualized courtship displays of any bird. Courtship tends to occur in the second half of the breeding season; October is the busiest month, but you may see it anytime that the colony is occupied. The display involves a perfectly choreographed “dance” of up to 20 minutes of bowing, bill clicking, bill circling, swaying and freezing, and honking and whistling.

Watch it here: Red-Billed Tropicbird The unmistakable red-billed tropicbird is one of the most impressive of the Galapagos seabirds. The most noticeable feature of this splendid white bird is its pair of long tail streamers—two elongated feathers often as long as the rest of the body. The birds are 2.5 long (including the tail feathers) and have a wingspan of just under 3.5 feet. They are extremely graceful in the air and often fly by in small groups, uttering a distinctive, piercing shriek. The coral-red bill and black eye stripe are noticeable at closer range. These birds nest in crevices and holes in cliffs or rock piles on most of the islands, but are most frequently seen from trails that follow cliff tops, such as on South Plaza, Genovesa and Hood. They feed far out to sea, plunge diving for fish and squid. Brown Pelican The brown pelican is instantly recognizable; with its huge pouched bill and large size (4 feet long with a 6.5-foot wingspan), it is often the first bird that visitors identify. As its name suggests, these pelicans are generally brownish in color.

During the breeding season, however, the adults have bright white and chestnut markings on their heads and necks. They nest year-round in most of the islands. These pelicans have wide fingered wings and are good gliders. They are often seen flying in a squadron-like formation, flapping and soaring in unison to create an elegant aerial ballet. They feed by shallow plunge diving and by scooping up as much as 2.5 gallons of water their pouches. The water rapidly drains out through the bill and the trapped fish are swallowed. It seems like a straightforward procedure, but apparently it is a difficult skill for the birds to acquire. Although parents raise frequent broods of two or three chicks, many of the fledged young are unable to learn the scoop-fishing technique quickly enough, and thus, starve to death. Blue-Footed Booby The blue-footed booby is perhaps the most famous of the Galapagos birds and is often the first type of booby seen by visitors. Large, colonies on Seymour and Hood are present throughout the year. This large, whitish-brown seabird grows from 2.5 to 3 feet in length and has a wingspan of about 5 feet.

The blue-footed booby really does have bright blue feet, which it picks up in a slow, most dignified fashion when performing a courtship display. Bowing, wing spreading and sky pointing, with its neck, head and bill stretched straight upward, are also features of courtship. Watching this clownish behavior is one of the highlights of any Galapagos trip! At first glance, the males and females are almost identical, but they can be told apart; the larger females have a slightly bigger pupil and they honk, whereas the males whistle. Courtship, mating and nesting occur year-round, although nesting is a euphemism for a scrape on the ground (literally) surrounded by a ring of guano. The young, of which there may be one, two or three, are covered with fluffy white down which can make them look larger than their parents. In a good year, all three of the young may survive; otherwise, the strongest one or two will out compete the weakest, which subsequently dies of starvation. Nazca Booby Recently given full species status, the Nazca booby, which has split from the masked booby, is pure white in color with a black band at the edge of its wings and tail.

A blackish area of bare skin surrounding its reddish-pink or orange bill forms the facemask, which gave the bird its previous name. The Nazca booby is the largest of the Galapagos boobies—with a length of 3 feet and a 5 to 6 foot wingspan—and it is found on most of the islands. Males and females look similar, but like the blue-footed booby, their calls differ; the smaller males whistle while the females utter a trumpeting quack. Because they are large birds, they often nest near cliff tops to give themselves an advantage when taking off. Breeding, unlike other boobies, takes place on an annual cycle that varies from island to island. On Genovesa , the birds arrive in May; courtship, mating and nest building ensue, and eggs are laid from August to November. Most of the young have fledged by February and the colony goes out at sea until May. On Hood , however, the colony is present from September to May, with egg-laying occurring from November to February.

Despite the location, the Nazca booby always lays two eggs while nesting, but even in a good year with plenty of food, the older sibling ejects the younger from the nest and only one survives. Red-Footed Booby The red-footed booby is the smallest of the Galapagos boobies, with a length of 2.5 feet and a 4.5-foot wingspan, and is readily distinguished by its red feet and blue bill with red base. Most adults are brown; however, about five percent are white, which is solely a different color phase and does not represent a new or hybrid species. The red-footed booby is the most numerous of the Galapagos boobies, but is also the least frequently seen. This is because it is found only on the more outlying islands, such as Genovesa, where a sizable colony estimated at 140,000 pairs exists. It feeds far out to sea, avoiding competition with the blue-footed booby, which feeds close inshore, and the Nazca booby, which feeds intermediately. The nesting behavior of this booby is quite different from the others.

It builds rudimentary nests in trees, as opposed to the guano-ringed scrapes on the ground of the other boobies, and lays only one egg. This usually happens when food is plentiful and can occur at any time of the year. Frigatebird Black frigatebirds, with their long scimitar wings and forked tails, hang like sinister kites in the wind. They are able hold a single position in the sky, as if suspended from invisible strings, and from their airborne perch they harry gulls and terns until the latter release their catch. This occurs because frigatebirds have a very small preening gland and are not able to secrete enough oils to waterproof their feathers; therefore, they cannot, unlike other birds, dive underwater to catch prey. They are, however, able to catch fish on the surface by snatching them up with their hooked beaks. Despite the menacing look imparted by its long, hooked beak, the frigatebird is actually quite beautiful. This large, elegant, streamlined, black seabird has an almost 8-foot wingspan. These birds are outstanding fliers and have the largest wingspan to weight ratio of any bird on the planet.

There are two different species of frigatebirds found in the Galapagos. Although there are colonies on many of the other islands, North Seymour Island has a constantly active, magnificent frigatebird colony and affords the best bird-viewing opportunities. Great frigatebirds tend to go further out to sea and are found more often on the outer islands. Telling the all-black, male species apart is problematic. The magnificent frigatebird, at 3.6 feet in length, is about 2 inches longer than the great frigatebird—a difference that is almost impossible to observe in the field. Also, the male magnificent has a metallic-purplish sheen to its black plumage, whereas the great frigate has a greenish hue. Again, it takes an experienced eye to tell the difference. Females are easier to distinguish. Magnificent females have white underparts with a black throat and a thin, blue eye-ring. Great females have white underparts, including the throat, and have a reddish eye-ring. Once the females are identified, you can assume that their mates are of the same species. Immature birds of both species, in addition to having white underparts, also have white heads.

As with many Galapagos seabirds, a frigatebird’s courtship display is quite spectacular. It is the females who do the conspicuous searching out and selecting of mates. The hens take to the air above the rookery to look over the males, who cluster in groups. Whenever a female circles low overhead, the males react with a blatant display of wooing. The males have scarlet gular pouches (appropriately shaped like hearts) hanging under their necks, which are inflated to football-sized balloons. It takes about 20 minutes to fully inflate the pouch, and the male normally sits on a tree and displays it skyward in order to attract passing females. In addition, the male vibrates its wings rapidly back and forth and entices the females with loud clicking and drumming sounds. Once the pair is established, a honeymoon of nest building begins. In the structured world of the frigatebird, it is the male’s job to find twigs for the nest. The practical frigates will not hesitate to steal twigs from their neighbors’ nests, so the females must stay home in order to guard their nests against thieves.

Great Blue Heron The great blue is the largest heron in the Galapagos, with its 4.5-foot length and almost 6.5-foot wingspan. Despite its name, the blue heron is a mostly gray bird, but is easily recognized by its long legs and great size. Like many members of this family, it often stands with its head hunched into its shoulders; it maintains this position when flying as well, with its long legs trailing behind. Great blue herons are found along the rocky coasts of most of the islands in the Galapagos, often standing motionless as they wait for fish to swim by. They have also been known to eat lizards, as well as young marine iguanas and birds for food. Blue herons tend to live alone or in pairs, but occasionally form a small colony of up to six nests. They breed year-round and often nest in mangroves. Yellow-Crowned Night Heron This common heron tends to feed at night, but can often be seen during the day in shaded areas along the coasts of each island in the Galapagos. It is a stocky, gray heron with a black and white head and yellow crown.

Because of its nocturnal habits, its eyes are larger than other herons. They breed in single pairs and build nests year-round in mangroves or under rocks. Common Egret This common egret is also known as the great or the American egret. This all-white heron is large, measuring 3.5 feet in length, with a 4.6-foot wingspan. It can also be identified by its yellow bill and black legs and feet. Despite its name, it is less commonly seen than the great blue heron, but found in similar habitats and occasionally inland. Cattle Egret This relatively small, white heron—1.7 feet long with a 3-foot wingspan—is distinguished from the common egret at a distance by its shorter neck and stockier appearance. Within closer range, its yellow legs and feet are more noticeable. This bird originated in Africa and southern Eurasia, and was unknown in the Americas until the 1800s. It was first recorded in the Galapagos in 1965, and is now common in pasturelands, especially in the highlands of Santa Cruz where the birds are most often seen. Galapagos Hawk This endemic hawk is the only raptor that breeds in the islands.

These birds are dark brown, with yellow legs, feet and ceres (the fleshy area at the base of the bill), and have much broader wings than similarly sized seabirds. Immature birds are lighter in color and are heavily mottled. These predatory birds have no natural enemies and are relatively fearless. This has led to their extinction by hunters on several islands, including Santa Maria, San Cristóbal, Seymour, Baltra, Genovesa and Daphne. They have been severely reduced on Santa Cruz as well, and only about 150 pairs are estimated to remain in the Galapagos. James, Bartolomé, Hood, Santa Fe, Fernandina and Isabela are the best islands on which to see them. Breeding occurs year-round, but is most frequent from May to July. The birds practice cooperative polyandry, where a single female has two or more mates, and all the adults help in raising the young. It is not easy to separate the sexes, but the female is generally larger than the male.

Lava & Striated Heron The lava heron, small and dark with its yellow-orange legs and 2-foot wingspan, is the only endemic heron in the Galapagos. Its dark green plumage camouflages it well against the lava shorelines where it stealthily hunts for prey, although immature birds are brown and streaked. The species breeds year-round, but September through March is its preferred breeding period. Their nests are usually solitary (occasionally in twos and threes) and are found under lava outcrops or in mangrove trees. They are common on the rocky shores of all the islands, but because of their camouflage and solitary nature, are a bit difficult to spot. Our naturalist guide should be able to point one out to you with little problem. The striated heron is about the same size, but paler in color than the lava heron. Ornithologists are uncertain if the lava heron is simply a variety of the striated heron, whether the two can hybridize, or whether they are distinct species. Lava Gull The lava gull is the rarest gull species in the world; only about 400 pairs are estimated to exist.

Despite this fact, there is a very good chance of viewing one, as they are widely distributed in the Galapagos. The lava gull is about 1.8 feet long and is generally dark gray to black in color, with white eyelids. They are solitary nesters and breed throughout the year. Brown Noddy Tern The brown noddy tern, as its name suggests, is generally dark brown in color with a whitish forehead, and is frequently seen feeding with pelicans. This tern often tries to catch fish scraps from the water that drains out of a pelican’s bill, and has even been seen perching on the pelican’s head to better position itself. This bird is 1.27 feet long, has a 2.5-foot wingspan, and nests in small colonies on cliffs and in caves thought the year. Galapagos Dove This pretty little 8-inch long dove is endemic to the islands. Its underneath has a reddish hue, its upper parts are brownish, and it has green neck patches, blue eye rings and red legs and feet—a very colorful bird. Breeding occurs year-round.

Two eggs are laid in a haphazard nest of grass and twigs, usually either under a rock or in an abandoned nest of another species. When incubating, adults may walk away from a nest, feigning injury in order to lure predators away. This behavior evolved long before doves arrived in the Galapagos, and has been retained, even though it is of little advantage in the islands. Darwin’s Finch Probably the most famous of the Galapagos land birds are Darwin’s finches, so named because of their importance to Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories. Darwin was fascinated, not only with the diversity of the thirteen species, but by how quickly they evolved from a common ancestor to adapt to the type of food supply on each island. These adaptations were mainly manifested in the shape and size of their beaks. Darwin’s thirteen finches are the most famous and biologically important birds of the Galapagos, but some visitors may find them disappointing, as they are not very spectacular looking. These finches are endemic to the islands and are usually easily seen by visitors, although it takes an expert’s trained eye to tell the different species apart.

All thirteen species are thought to have descended from a common ancestor, and their present differences in distribution, body size, plumage, beak size and shape, and feeding habits helped Darwin to formulate his evolutionary theories. Hood provides the best opportunity for viewers to more easily separate three of the finch species. Here, you will find only the warbler finch, the small ground finch and the large cactus finch, with its massive bill. The others species found in the islands are more difficult to distinguish. There are tree finches, which are seen on the ground, ground finches that are seen in the trees, and cactus finches, which may be seen in all sorts of places in addition to cacti. If you are interested in seeing all thirteen species, you will need to do some traveling. The medium tree finch is found only in the highlands of Santa Maria. The mangrove finch solely exists on Isabela and Fernandina. And of the islands with visitor sites, the large cactus finch is found only on Genovesa and Hood. The other finches are more widely distributed.

You may also be interested in… Darwin Online: Darwin's field notes on the Galapagos: 'A little world within itself' Advanced search Darwin's field notes on the Galapagos: 'A little world within itself' Charles Darwin's visit to the Galapagos in 1835 is one of the most famous few weeks in the history of science. Scholars today differ in their view of the impact of the islands on the young Darwin; all agree however that the animals and plants he saw there contributed significantly to his becoming an evolutionist. He wrote in Journal of researches, p. 454 ): 'The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself.' As is well known, Darwin started to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection within two years of the Beagle's return to England in 1836, and his 1859 book the Origin of species was the pivot about which most of the scientific community was persuaded to accept evolution during the 1860s (see Sulloway 1982b for a full discussion of Darwin's 'conversion').

There is now a considerable body of literature concerning Darwin's visit to the Galapagos, in which the most tightly focused study is Estes et al. 2000 . We would also draw attention to the large amount of research on this topic by the late David Stanbury which, although never published in full, is happily now available for study at Christ's College, Cambridge. We believe Stanbury was the first scholar to realise that Darwin probably saw Halley's Comet while in the Galapagos. (The comet was at its minimum distance from Earth on 13 October 1835, while Darwin was on James Island (now Santiago, see below on island names), and he should have been able to see it with the naked eye immediately after sunset on any clear evening at about that time. Since we believe he had access to the Nautical Almanac for 1833 which included a chart showing the comet's predicted path, and he may have had a telescope, the reference to 'Comet' in almost his last field note on the Galapagos ( the Galapagos Notebook , p. 50b.) is a strong indication that he saw it. The basic facts of the Beagle's visit bear retelling.

The first suggestion that the ship might visit the Galapagos was made by her captain, Robert FitzRoy, to Admiral Beaufort, Hydrographer to the Royal Navy, before Beaufort issued the Admiralty's instructions for the voyage (letter from FitzRoy to Beaufort of 6 September, 1831, Admiralty Hydrographic Office). Beaufort then suggested that if convenient, Captain FitzRoy 'should run for the Galapagos, and, if the season permits, survey that knot of islands.' (Admiralty instructions and memorandum in Narrative 1 .) FitzRoy had Darwin with him on the voyage as ship's naturalist and gentleman companion. At the start of the voyage Darwin was twenty-two; he had some experience of collecting beetles and small sea creatures, and was fast developing a strong interest in geology, but he saw himself rightly as a novice in all other areas of natural history. His plan for the Beagle voyage was twofold — to continue his own investigations of geology and marine invertebrates, and to collect specimens of other organisms that might be new to science, for experts to examine and describe on the Beagle's return to England.

The Beagle was in the Galapagos for five weeks, from 15 September to 20 October 1835, and made a series of charts which were still in use by mariners in the 1940s. Darwin spent about nineteen days ashore, on Chatham Island (now San Cristobal) ( Galapagos Notebook , p. 18b), Charles (now Floreana) (p. 34b), Albemarle (now Isabela) (p. 29a) and James (now Santiago) (p. 36b). Darwin's use of his field notebooks during the voyage is explained in the general introduction to the notebooks. The one he used on the Galapagos is labelled 'Galapagos. Otaheite Lima'. It contains entries he made between January and November 1835 when he was in Chile, Peru, the Galapagos and Tahiti. The Galapagos entries, which comprise about one quarter of the book, consist of one sequence of 34 pages filled in consecutively while Darwin was in the Galapagos (pp.

18b to 51b), and some brief notes on four other pages (inside front cover, inside back cover, p. 29a and p. 31a). The notes on the inside back cover and page 29a refer to the Beagle's sailing between Albemarle and Narborough (now Fernandina) on 29 and 30 September and its arrival at Tagus Cove on Albemarle (known to Darwin as Blonde Cove) on the 30th. The note on the inside front cover gives the generic name of the marine and terrestrial iguanas of the Galapagos which Darwin found in the account of the iguanas in Admiral George Byron's Voyage of HMS Blonde ( Byron 1826 ). The note on page 31a which refers to the specimens of trachyte which Darwin collected during his days on James (p. 47b) may have been inserted some time after the Beagle's departure from the Galapagos. After the voyage Darwin kept the notebook with his other records of his observations and collections, and he took it with them to Down House in Kent when he went to live there in 1842.

The Galapagos Notebook is part of English Heritage's Darwin Collection at Down House, but it was stolen from there in the early 1980s and has yet to be recovered. Most fortunately, a microfilm had been made in 1969 and the transcription has been made from the microfilm. In line with his practice throughout the Beagle voyage, Darwin's field notes on the Galapagos are not a full record of what he saw when he landed on each island but jottings of particular observations and thoughts that he wanted to include in the full notes and specimen lists he would write later at his work-table back on board the Beagle, and felt a need to note down at once in case he forgot any details. Read in this way, the jottings reveal points that were particularly important to him as he worked energetically to observe and collect all he could in the few days he had on the islands before the Beagle sailed on. The notes make clear his fascination with the volcanic formations he was able to study, and his determination to make worthwhile collections of plants and animals for others. They show clearly and vividly how actively he was observing, investigating, comparing and speculating as he explored the islands.

So what exactly did Darwin do while in the Galapagos? Estes et al. 2000 have detailed his itinerary and make several references to the Galapagos Notebook but do not quote from it, and we offer here a broader account with the emphasis on Darwin's scientific activities and how his eventual historic insight into the possibility that species change came after his days of wide-ranging observation and hurried collecting. While Darwin was in Lima, before the Beagle set sail towards the Galapagos, he wrote to his sister: 'I am very anxious for the Galapagos Islands. I think both the geology and the zoology cannot fail to be very interesting.' (Letter of July 1835 to Caroline Darwin, Correspondence vol. 1, p. 456.) And to his cousin, W. D. Fox, he wrote: 'I look forward to the Galapagos with more interest than any other part of the voyage. They abound with active volcanoes, and, I should hope, contain Tertiary strata.' (Letter of August 1835, Correspondence vol. 1, p.

458.) Darwin's main interest lay in the opportunity to study the craters and lava flows of active volcanoes, an important first for a young geologist like Darwin in the 1830s. In fact he would find the islands to be entirely volcanic, but as he reported in Volcanic islands, p. 114ff , there were some deposits containing marine shells (probably a few million years old (see Estes et al., 2000 ) which showed that the islands had probably been partially uplifted from the sea. Darwin also looked forward to collecting natural history specimens on the islands. A number of English naturalists on previous visits had made collections, but he could hope to discover some new species. His mentor at Cambridge University, Professor John Stevens Henslow, had introduced him to the study of the geographical distribution of species; Henslow had explained the special interest of the strange links between the flora and fauna of oceanic islands and the continents they were close to, and the Galapagos were an obvious case for further study. Darwin made a special effort to collect the plants of the four islands he visited.

Darwin wrote to Henslow four months after leaving the Galapagos, that he had 'worked hard' there. 'Amongst other things, I collected every plant which I could see in flower, and as it was the flowering season, I hope my collection may be of some interest to you.' (Correspondence vol. 1, p. 485.) The Beagle anchored first off Chatham Island. During the eight days Captain FitzRoy spent surveying the coast, Darwin made five landings, starting on Wednesday 16 September near what is now Puerto Baquerizo Moreno ( Galapagos Notebook , p. 18b). His entries in the field notebook suggest that his main interest on Chatham was to explore a 'craterised district' that had struck him when he first saw it from a distance. He made detailed geological notes on the craters, their formation and the lava flows around them that appeared to have been frozen in an instant (p. 19b). He noted that three quarters of the plants were in flower (p. 31b), an essential point for botanical collecting.

During one landing he found ten plant species though most of them were, as he was to phrase it in Journal of researches, p. 454, 'such wretched-looking little weeds' that they 'would have better become an arctic than an equatorial Flora.' He was very impressed by the reptile life – the tortoises and iguanas, and opened a brief entry on them with a characteristically personal remark: 'Met an immense Turpin; took little notice of me.' (Galapagos Notebook, p. 20b.) His first field note on a bird of the Galapagos was to prove historic. On the day he studied the craterised district, he also jotted down: 'The Thenca very tame & curious in these Islds. I certainly recognise S. America in ornithology; would a botanist?' (p. 30b.) 'Thenca' is the Spanish name for the thrush-like mockingbird of the west coast of South America with which Darwin had become familiar as the Beagle sailed up from Chile to Peru.

He now caught one of the 'tame and curious' birds and recorded later in his list of specimens that it was from Chatham Island (Keynes ed. 2000, p. 414 ). The point of interest in Darwin's field note is how he linked the Galapagos bird with its counterparts on the mainland, and asked himself at once whether there might be similar likenesses between the plants of the continent and those of the archipelago. The entry shows that as he worked in the field on one of his first landings on the islands, he was already keenly interested in features that might bear on the global issue of species and their geographical distribution, and wanted to be sure to remember one key question that had come to mind as he explored. When he wrote to Henslow three months later about his collection of Galapagos plants, he picked up the point: 'I shall be very curious to know whether the Flora belongs to America, or is peculiar.' (Correspondence vol. 1, p. 485.) The Beagle sailed next to Charles Island where Darwin spent three days exploring and collecting 'all the animals, plants, insects and reptiles from this Island' ( Beagle diary ).

He made a few short entries in the field notebook to help him recall a number of points for comment in his diary ( Galapagos Notebook , p. 34b). He also made an observation and heard a passing remark that were to be significant for his later insight into the species issue. One of the birds he found was another mockingbird and, as he was to record later in Birds, p. 63 , he 'fortunately happened to observe' that it differed markedly from his Chatham Island specimen, and from that point on, he paid 'particular attention to their collection'. When he entered the bird in his list of specimens, he recorded the island where he had found it (Keynes ed. 2000, p. 414). The remark was made by the English Vice-Governor, Nicholas Lawson, who met the Beagle crew by chance when they landed. In a conversation about the giant Galapagos tortoises of which there were small numbers on the island, Lawson said that the tortoises on different islands showed 'slight variations in the form of the shell'. He claimed that he could, 'on seeing a tortoise, pronounce with certainty from which island it has been brought' (ibid. p.

291). It is not clear whether Darwin attached any significance to the remark at the time, but he was to remember it later. On 29 September the Beagle reached Albemarle Island and the next day the ship anchored in the inlet Darwin knew as Blonde Cove, now Tagus Cove. Darwin landed on 1 October to examine the volcanic terrain. As on Charles Island, he collected plants and animals, including another mockingbird which he recorded later in his zoology notes and specimen list ( Zoology notes , pp. 298, 416), again identifying the island, but he made only a few brief jottings in his field notebook (Galapagos Notebook inside back cover, p. 29a, p. 34b and p. 35b). On 3 October the Beagle stood round the north end of Albemarle, and then sailed eastwards to survey the coasts of Abingdon (now Pinta), Tower (Genovesa) and Bindloe (Marchena) Islands.

On 8 October she reached James Island, and Darwin was able to go ashore with his servant Syms Covington, the Captain's servant Harry Fuller, and the ship's surgeon Benjamin Bynoe, for a stay of nine days while the Beagle returned to Chatham and Charles for water and provisions. During their time on James Island, Darwin explored inland and collected specimens with help from the others, and from 12 October to the Beagle's departure on 18 October, he made a number of entries in the field notebook (pp. 36b to 51b). He was struck by the extraordinary numbers of giant tortoises; he made detailed observations of their drinking and feeding, and calculated their 'quickness of travelling' with a column of figures. He and his companions were given tortoise meat and found that it was delicious in soup. Two sets of jottings by Darwin on 12 and 14 October are linked with his eventual glimpse of the key the Galapagos were to provide to the understanding that species change. On page 40b he noticed a 'Thenca' on the island and noted how it 'eats bits of meat'.

(The point was significant to him because he remembered seeing a mockingbird on the mainland of South America behaving in just the same way (see Birds, p. 64 .)) He opened his entry on page 42b: 'Wandered about Bird collecting. Iguana … Eats much cactus: … Small Finc[h] picking from same piece after alights on back.' Darwin was clearly completing his bird-collecting, but not apparently with any single focus. He was observing mockingbirds on the island; he caught one and added it to his specimen list, yet again noting the island. He was also observing and collecting finches and other birds. Finally on 17 October the Beagle sent in two boats to bring the shore party back on board for their voyage out into the Pacific and eventually home to England. This is the moment shown in John Chancellor's well-known painting . (See right) ( Estes et al. 2000 mention only one boat but the Captain's log is clear on this point.) As the Beagle sailed for Tahiti, Darwin had a few days to order and record his Galapagos specimens before the next landfall.

Ten years later, in the second edition of Journal of researches ( 2d ed. , p. 394), he explained what happened next. When he compared together 'the numerous specimens, shot by myself and several other parties on board, of the mocking-thrushes', 'to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles Island belonged to one species, … all from Albemarle Island to [another] and all from James and Chatham Islands to [a third].' He wrote in his zoological notes ( Zoology notes , p. 298: 'This bird which is so closely allied to the Thenca of Chili … is singular from existing as varieties or distinct species in the different islands. … This is a parallel fact to the one mentioned about the tortoises.' The connection with Lawson's remark about the tortoises is the clue to what Darwin had in mind at this juncture — deep patterns in the distribution of species that reach between whole classes of the animal kingdom. He wrote in 1845 (Journal of researches 2d ed., p.

394): 'I never dreamed that islands about 50 or 60 miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted; but we shall soon see that this is the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner to discover what is most interesting in any locality, than they are hurried from it; but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I obtained sufficient materials to establish this most remarkable fact in the distribution of organic beings.' As the Beagle sailed home towards England during June and July 1836, Darwin had time to prepare those sets of specimens that he would need to hand over to other experts for examination. He took his specimen lists and zoological notes and drew up separate sets of notes for mammals, birds, insects, shells, plants, reptiles, crustaceans and fish, expanding on his former entries when he now had more to say.

He needed an expert ornithologist's verdict on his birds, especially his judgement that the three Galapagos mockingbirds should be counted as separate species, and wrote about the mockingbirds in his notes to accompany the specimens ('Ornithological notes', p. 262 ): 'I have specimens from four of the larger Islands; [two already enumerated], and (3349: female. Albemarle Isd.) and (3350: male: James Isd). The specimens from Chatham and Albemarle Island appear to be the same, but the other two are different. In each island, each kind is exclusively found: habits of all are indistinguishable.' He now developed his brief comment in his zoological notes about the parallel between the mockingbirds and the tortoises.

When I recollect the fact that [from] the form of the body, shape of scales and general size, the Spaniards can at once pronounce from which island any tortoise may have been brought; when I see these islands in sight of each other and possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds, but slightly differing in structure and filling the same place in nature; I must suspect they are only varieties. The only fact of a similar kind of which I am aware, is the constant asserted difference between the wolf-like fox of East and West Falkland Islands. If there is the slightest foundation for these remarks, the zoology of archipelagoes will be well worth examining; for such facts would undermine the stability of species. This passage is generally recognized as Darwin's first statement pointing directly from his findings on the Galapagos towards the possibility that species change, but his meaning is unclear as the wording and grammatical construction are ambiguous.

Taking into account what he had been told and found for himself on the Galapagos, and his later conclusions from his findings, he may possibly have been saying at this point that if the remarks made about the Galapagos tortoises and Falklands foxes had any basis in truth, it would be well worth conducting further zoological studies of the Galapagos mockingbirds and any other comparable patterns in other archipelagoes because the facts such studies might reveal of species differences emerging between organisms separated only by island barriers would undermine assumptions about the fixity of species. On his return to London, Darwin offered his collection of bird specimens to John Gould, an ambitious young bird illustrator who was rapidly building a reputation as an ornithologist. Gould responded quickly and positively with a series of presentations of the specimens at meetings of the Zoological Society of London. Gould confirmed Darwin's suggestion that there were three species of mockingbird in his Galapagos collection, though he changed the grouping of two of the specimens.

He also pointed out to Darwin that the many birds he had identified as finches and collected on the different islands, often without recording which, should be grouped together with a number of other birds Darwin had identified as wrens, 'gross-beaks' and 'Icteruses' (relatives of blackbirds) as 'a series of ground Finches which are so peculiar as to form an entire new group containing twelve new species' ( Gould 1837 , p. 4). Darwin was fascinated at once by what the new grouping revealed about possible evolutionary adaptations in the archipelago but found that he could not study the distribution of the finches between islands because he had failed to identify on which one he had collected many of his specimens. Gould's report was the first account in the long and complicated story of 'Darwin's finches' which has distorted the general understanding of Darwin's work in the Galapagos in recent years. See Sulloway 1982a . Darwin's interest in the finches lies outside the scope of this introduction because, as Sulloway has explained, Darwin did not recognize the issues that they posed while he was on the Galapagos.

His primary concern until Gould's report in 1837 was the mockingbirds, as explained above. Through 1837 and 1838 Darwin thought to himself about the fixity or mutability of species and the implications of the Galapagos mockingbirds for the possibility that they might change. In the summer of 1837 he started a series of private writings on the subject. He wrote in his journal (DAR158.1-76, p. 13 ) In July opened first note Book on "transmutation of Species". — Had been greatly struck from about month of previous March on character of S. American fossils—& species on Galapagos Archipelago. — These facts origin (especially latter) of all my views. He referred to his point about the Galapagos in a passage on the seventh page of the first transmutation notebook: 'Let a pair be introduced [to an area] and increase slowly, from many enemies, so as often to intermarry; who will dare say what result? According to this view, animals on separate islands ought to become different if kept long enough apart, with slightly different circumstances.

Now Galapagos tortoises, mockingbirds, Falkland fox, Chiloe fox, English and Irish hare.' And thirty pages later in the notebook, he drew his historic branching diagram showing how different species might be linked to each other by common descent. (Notebook B, pp.172 -180.) Darwin had written in his first note on the 'Thenca' in his field notebook: 'I certainly recognise S. America in ornithology; would a botanist?' When he first noticed the bird on Chatham Island, he thought of parallels with other species and he was already collecting the plants of the island for an analysis of their links with the flora of other regions. As he developed his ideas about evolution in the late 1830s and early 1840s, he became more and more confident in their power to explain, but the evidence on which they were based needed to be built up before he could put them to others. The three species of mockingbirds on three Pacific islands would not be enough to persuade.

He had given his collection of Galapagos plants to Henslow shortly after his return to England and had been pressing him ever since to analyse and report on them, but Henslow did not find the time. In 1843 Darwin finally lost patience with his teacher and arranged for the young botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker to take over the task. Darwin was eager to hear how many species were shared with South America, how many were unique to the Galapagos and how many were unique to a single island. Hooker found that the flora had many close and clear links with the plants of South America, and his conclusions on the distinctiveness of the archipelago and individual islands were astonishing. Of a total of 217 species collected, he found that 109 were confined to the archipelago and 85 of those were confined to a single island. (See Journal of researches 2d ed., pp. 395-397.) Darwin's eventual conclusions stemming from his first question about the birds and plants of the Galapagos were to feature in one of the most important passages in Origin of species (pp. 397-406).

The passage ended with one of his key points about evolution by natural selection: The relations just discussed … [including] the very close relation of the distinct species which inhabit the islets of the same archipelago, and especially the striking relation of the inhabitants of each whole archipelago or island to those of the nearest mainland, are, I think, utterly inexplicable on the ordinary view of the independent creation of each species, but are explicable on the view of colonisation from the nearest and readiest source, together with the subsequent modification and better adaptation of the colonists to their new homes. We wish to acknowledge the help we have received in the preparation of this article from Cambridge University Library and from Darwin Online. We also thank Thalia Grant for her advice on Darwin's collecting on Charles Island, and English Heritage and the Darwin family for permission to quote from the notebook. Gordon Chancellor and Randal Keynes October 2006 What animals did Charles Darwin study? | Reference.com What animals did Charles Darwin study? A: Quick Answer Charles Darwin closely studied 13 species of finches, which were endemic to the Galapagos Islands.

These birds formed the rudiments of Darwin's famous "Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection." Full Answer In 1831, Charles Darwin became the naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, which was bound for a five year exploratory charting of the South Pacific region. It was on this voyage that he began his study of the finches. He observed that the birds were visually different, identifying that the patterns of their beaks varied in size and shape. He determined that the beak variations were linked to differing diets and, in turn, to available food sources. Darwin rationalized that the birds must have evolved from a common ancestor, providing the basis for his theories about evolution. Throughout his later career, Darwin went on to study other animals including pigeons and earthworms.

Question: Of what type of bird did Darwin observe 12 different species in the Galapagos islands?
Answer: FINCH