Question

What Darwin did observe in the tortoises on the Galapagos lslands? What did he observe about the finches?

Answer 1

Actually Darwin failed to observe the differences in the Tortoises and finches in the Galapagos Islands.

Explanation:

It wasn't until 1945 that David Lark published his book "Darwin's Finches" that the scientific world recognized the significance of the diversity of the Finches on the Galapagos Islands.

The local Spanish magistrate told Darwin that the island the tortoises came from could be identified by their shells. Darwin ignored this observation of a local person at the time. He later remembered the statement but it was not his observation. p 23 Beak of the Finch)

Darwin was so unimpressed by the Finches of the Galapagos islands that he left them out completely in the Origin of the Species.

What did catch Darwin's attention was the mockingbirds. He observed that the Mockingbird he collected on the second island was different from the Mockingbird he collected on the first. Darwin carefully labeled all of the Mocking birds as to which island the birds came from. Darwin noted that this might undermine the dogma of the Stability of the Species ( page 27 Beak of the Finch)

All total Darwin shot 31 finches from 4 islands that turned out to represent 9 of the 13 sub species of finches found on the Galapagos Islands. Darwin failed to recognize the significance of the finches at the time. (p22 beak of the Finch)

Darwin failed to accurately recognize the significance of the differences in the finches and tortoises in the islands.