Darwins Dangerous Ideas

Darwin’s Dangerous Idea’s

- How did Darwin begin his career? http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_2.htm 1998-2013 by Dennis O'Neil.

Charles Darwin was basically forced to go to school and learn medicine to become a doctor by his father. At the age of 16 he was enrolled at the Edinburgh, Scotland as a medical student. He showed little interest in medicine and was horrified by the brutality of the surgery that was performed with no anesthesia or pain relief, as anesthesia wasn’t used for operations until 1842. His knowledge of natural history was basically born while attending Edinburgh by a Professor by the name of Robert Grant, a highly reputable professor of anatomy and an avid marine biologist. At Grant's suggestion, Darwin also became a member of Plinian Society for student naturalists at the University of Edinburgh. Through the teachings of Grant he later attended Cambridge University and was introduced to the evolutionary ideas of Adam Sedgwick and John Henslow. He spent much time with them collecting specimens in the countryside around the university for research. In 1831 after graduating Darwin was able to acquire a position on a British navy mapping expedition that was going around the world which would be a five year long voyage. This was the famous voyage that Charles Darwin is known for. They sailed two days after Christmas on the H.M.S Beagle in 1831. This was the start of his “Career”. I find this extremely interesting because we have many theories that have branched of from Darwin’s expedition. And we still use his theory of evolution in anthropology and archeology, which after some 182 years we still use, definitely relates in the study of modern anthropology and science. The study of Darwin’s voyage from 1831-1836, allows us to learn about the evolutionary adaptations and animal life.

- What did Darwin study during his voyage? http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_2.htm 1998-2013 by Dennis O'Neil.

During the voyage Captain Fitzroy of the H.M.S. Beagle, was interested in advancing science and was especially drawn to geology. He was able to have a library of 400 books on board of the ship that he made available to Darwin who was the acting naturalist and companion for the aristocratic captain, Robert Fitzroy. It was during the beginning of the voyage that Darwin read the first volumes of Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology" and became convinced by his proof that uniformitarianism provided his understanding of the earths history of geology. Through these readings along with his research done during the voyage, was very impactful toward Darwin accepting evolution. The probably most important part of his voyage was his 5 weeks in the Galápagos’ islands. It was there that he was able to make his observations that eventually led him to understand what causes plants and animals to evolve, but wasn’t able to fully perfect his theory until 1837. At the time he left the Galápagos islands, he still believed in a traditional Biblical creation of all life forms. This relates to archeology because as we are now learning about mammalian evolution and first how we evolved from the first hominid Sahelanthropus Tchadensis or even how that evolved from the first diurnal anthropoid primates 50 million years ago. So this topic has a very influential grasp of what we are currently learning right now in class. The evolution of us.

How did Darwin Come up with his theory of evolution and natural selection? http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_2.htm 1998-2013 by Dennis O'Neil.

While in the Galápagos islands, Darwin noticed that from island to island though extremely close, the finch population had slight differences in size and shape of the body and most noticeable in the beak. He connected these differences by the fact that the different species live in different types of environments. He found an extremely incredible find on returning to England. He and a ornithologist viewed the 13 species of finches he collected on the islands, he came to find that those finches originated from one species on the mainland of South America 600 miles away from the islands. He concluded that when the finches from south America flew and reached the Galápagos, they must have dispersed to different environments within the islands where they and to adapt and evolve to the different conditions. Darwin also found that when the finches over many generations, were slightly different from each other anatomically in ways that allowed them to get enough nutrients to survive and reproduce. In modern science and we use the term adaptive radiation to call back on the branching evolution through which the different populations of a species become isolated from one another and adapting to different environments or ecological niches and are then able to become a separate species all together.
Darwin came to understand that any population consists of individuals that are all slightly different from one another. Certain individuals that have a variation have an advantage that allows them to survive longer and reproduce successfully will be the ones that pass on their traits more frequently to the next generation. The traits become more common and eventually the population will evolve. Darwin called this “Descent with Modification.” The Galápagos finches provide an excellent example of this process. Among the birds that ended up in drier environments, the ones with beaks better suited for eating cactus and fruit got more food. The result was that they were in better condition to mate. The same with those with beak shapes that were better suited to get nectar from flowers or eating hard seeds in other environments were advantages to them there. In a very real sense, nature selected the best adapted ones to survive and to reproduce. This process today has come to be known as natural selection. He began to think that maybe all of the variations he encountered were caused by natural selection instead of divine creation (God). By comparing modern specimens with fossils, he created a theory that the newer species evolved from similar older versions and those that didn't adapt became extinct. This is relevant to archeology in modern times because we use the basis of adaptation and evolution that Darwin created through his studies. I find it interesting that we haven’t created a new system and that we still use his theory. Well if its not broken don’t fix it, and his theory is a complete fit to this very day with every evolutionary change in an animals ability to adapt and pass on traits to become better suited to survive.