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Darwin in the Galapagos Islands

Three of Darwin's observations on the plants and animals of the Galapagos Islands contributed to his realization that species are not immutable, specially created forms. First, he saw that closely related populations on nearby islands vary in appearance, as he explained in The Voyage of the Beagle1: "My attention was first thoroughly aroused, by comparing together ... the mocking-thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus); all from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus; and all from James and Chatham Islands ... belonged to M. melanotis."

Second, Darwin noted that the inhabitants of an island usually have close affinities with forms on the adjacent continent, rather than with species occupying similar environments elsewhere in the world. This seemed to suggest that they were not created independently1: "It is probable that the islands of the Cape de Verd group resemble, in all their physical conditions, far more closely the Galapagos Islands, than these latter physically resemble the coast of America, yet the aboriginal inhabitants of the two groups are totally unlike; those of the Cape de Verd Islands bearing the impress of Africa, as the inhabitants of the Galapagos Archipelago are stamped with that of America."

Third, after returning to England, Darwin was informed by the ornithologist John Gould that many of the bird species in the Galapagos Islands that seemed to belong to different families were, in fact, all related members of a single family, previously unknown to science - and now known as Darwin's finches. Darwin quickly realized the implications of such phenotypic and ecological diversity1: "Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species has been taken and modified for different ends."

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Q: Three of Darwin's observations on galapago islands?
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What year did they discover the Galapago' islands?

This may be a little more info than you needed.According to legend... the Inca Tupac Yupanqui set sail from the coast of Ecuador in the late 1400's with 20,000 men on balsa rafts. On his journey he discovered and named two islands - Ava Chumbi (Outer Island) and Nina Chumbi (Fire Island) . Some historians believe these islands were the Galapagos. In 1535, a Spanish captain, Thomas de Berlanga rediscovered the Galapagos archipelago. Puerto Viejo - April 26, 1535: "The ship sailed with very good breezes for seven days, and the pilot kept near land and we had a six-day calm; the currents were so strong and engulfed us in such a way that on Wednesday, the tenth of March, we sighted an island; and, as on board there was enough water for only two more days, they agreed to lower the life-boat and go on land for water and grass for the horses. And once out, they found nothing but seals, and turtles and such big tortoises that each could carry a man on top of himself, and many iguanas that are like serpents."1794 Map of the Galapagos Islands They were later used by Spanish and English buccaneers, whaling fleets, and fur sealers.USS Essex in Galapagos c. 1813The Essex was sent to Galapagos to destroy the British whaling fleet during the War of 1812 Charles Darwin visited the islands in 1835 and made them famous in Origin of Species.Charles Darwin "SEPTEMBER 15th. -- This archipelago consists of ten principal islands, of which five exceed the others in size. They are situated under the Equator, and between five and six hundred miles westward of the coast of America. They are all formed of volcanic rocks; a few fragments of granite curiously glazed and altered by the heat, can hardly be considered as an exception. Some of the craters, surmounting the larger islands, are of immense size, and they rise to a height of between three and four thousand feet. Their flanks are studded by innumerable smaller orifices. I scarcely hesitate to affirm, that there must be in the whole archipelago at least two thousand craters.The archipelago is a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, and has received the general character of its indigenous productions. Considering the small size of the islands, we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava- streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out.H.M.S. Beagle Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact -- that mystery of mysteries -- the first appearance of new beings on this earth."- Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle A scientific collection expedition of The California Academy of Sciences in 1906 also helped bring the Galapagos to attention of scientists and the public. Galapagos National Park was established in 1959 to protect the unique flora and fauna of the islands. That same year the Charles Darwin Research Station was founded in Academy Bay on Isla Santa Cruz. In 1979, the Galapagos Islands were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

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