Charles Darwin s Theory Of Evolution - 1577 Words

No man has been as influential in the history of evolutionary science as Charles Darwin, a prominent British naturalist, geologist and botanist who came to solidify himself in these fields of studies in the nineteenth century. In 1831, Darwin embarked on a British government-sponsored voyage on the HMS Beagle to the coast of South America and several remote islands in the Pacific, where he closely observed the landforms and natural species that were native to these parts of the world, which he had never encountered before. Upon confronting these previously unidentified species, he made numerous observations, took copious notes in his journals and collected meticulous samples on these islands. The voyage lasted for five years, and upon†¦show more content†¦Darwin’s exploration to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific was truly transformative in what he was able to encounter on these isolated and remote islands that allowed these indigenous species to develop in their r eclusiveness. Having the seclusion of natural developments of these species, Darwin was able to make the connections in which he does based upon the native animals in their isolated environments. During his expedition to the Galapagos, Darwin encountered a variety of plants and animals, which he noticed differed in appearance on each separate island. The unique shape and patterns on the shell of giant tortoises varied based on their location and distinguished them from one another. Darwin also paid meticulous attention to the abundant diversity of the bird species on these islands, including four different species of mockingbirds and thirteen types of finches. Similar to the tortoise, the finches had each developed uniquely on each island to the extent where they didn’t appear to be related; the birds were visibly distinct from one another (See Appendix I). As observed and recorded in his bound works, Darwin states that the â€Å"most curious fact is the perfect gradation in the size of the beaks in the different species of Geospiza, from one as large as that of a hawfinch to that of a chaffinch, and even to that of a warbler.† Certain birds