History of the Galapagos
The Galapagos Islands were formed 4-5 million years ago. The Islands were created by a series of large eruptions of underwater volcanoes. The area is still one of the most volcanic sites in the worlds. the last major eruptions were in 1991 and 1995.
In 1835, Charles Darwin and a crew sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle to the Galapagos Islands for 6 weeks . While there, he observed the ecosystem and the variations of animals in it. One of his most famous observations was that of the Galapagos Finches. He noticed that each Finch had different characteristics that would help them with different tasks. Most notably, the birds would have different sizes and shapes of beaks to help them with obtaining food in different ways. This led him to develop the hypothesis of natural selection, which we now understand as a theory.
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