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Darwin's
"Galápagos finches" are perhaps the most famous specimens in the
history of science. The story goes that Darwin formulated his theory of
evolution by natural selection when he saw the variety of finches. In fact,
at the time of his voyage, he barely noticed them. |
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It took the bird
expert John Gould to spot their significance. Finches are usually seed-eaters,
but on the Galápagos islands, they had evolved to exploit other
food sources.
One of these finches has a
short stubby beak, for cracking seeds and the other has a longer, thinner
beak for hunting insects. |
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