If the giant tortoise is the symbol of the Galapagos Islands, then Darwin’s finches must be the symbol of evolution in the Galapagos. The Galapagos Islands’ finches are most famous for their role in this theory of evolution.  What may be less well-known is that the finches are still evolving today. 

There are presently 14 species of birds recognized as Darwin’s finches – 13 in the Galapagos, and one on Cocos Island.  Because of the strong pressure exerted by extreme climatic variation, isolation from the mainland and low population numbers, the pace of evolution is much faster in the Galapagos than in the continental land masses.

One species of Darwin’s finch evolved a smaller beak in just two decades to take advantage of a new food source when its original food source became scarce.  It seems this particular bird isn’t a big fan of the “intelligent design” model. Today all of the variations of the miraculous species can be seen in various corners of the Galapagos Islands but you better study up – it takes some effort and interest to learn to identify each of the finches.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Galapagos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.