SCRIBE 1/23/12

Scribe 1/23/12

Today in class we talked about the theory of evolution. Evolution is how and in what ways living organisms have evolved over the history of the earth. The most important concept of evolution is that all living organisms have evolved from a common ancestor. Evolution did not occur overnight, it took millions and millions for evolution to occur for all organisms.

            Organisms evolve in order to benefit themselves. For example, Darwin’s Finches all have different beaks and body sizes in order to help them feed. When Charles Darwin, at the age of 22, came to the Galapagos Islands in order to observe the species in the diverse islands, he was unimpressed. The animals were not exiting; the land iguanas and tortoises were slow and not amusing. The landscape was barren with dormant volcano’s and little vegetation. After observing the tortoises for a longer period of time, Darwin realized that the tortoises from one island had different shaped shells than tortoises from other islands. This observation led to the idea of Natural Selection. Natural Selection is the idea that species evolve in order to become better suited for their environments. A great example of Natural Selection is Darwin’s Finches. Contrary to common belief, Darwin paid little attention to the little birds that would run around his feet while he spent his time in the islands. The small birds differ from island to island mostly based on how they got to their food. Some birds with larger beaks and bodies would eat larger nuts harder to get to while birds from another island with thinner beaks would eat smaller seeds in larger quantities.  

The theory of evolution has not been proven, but there is a lot of evidence that support the theory. Darwin was the first to discover evidence that supports the theory of evolution. Even though evolution is a controversial theory that has many people on both sides of the argument, those on the opposing side cannot deny the evidence of the theory.