Darwin's Finches

Darwin's Finches

There are 14 species of bird known as Darwin's finches. Darwin was greatly inspired by this rather dull group of birds and they became essential to his postulations of natural selection. It is believed that several ancestral finches were blown off course during migration and came to inhabit the Galapagos Islands. Now 14 species of finch inhabit the islands; all share physical resemblance (with the exception of their beaks). These finches reveal that they were able to adapt to dominate a specific environmental niche. For example, some of Darwin's finches have strong, stout beaks to feed on nuts and seeds, while others have long, narrow beaks and feed on insects. [BM] {FW}