Voyage of the Beagle: Galapagos discussion

1-2 paragraphs per question

Continue the journey on the Beagle:

• September 15th, 1835: Galapagos Islands
• January 12, 1836, After anchoring in Sydney Cove, Australia, Darwin makes an excursion inland to Bathurst.
• April 6, 1836, Keeling or Cocos Island
• April 29, 1836: Mauritius Island (near Madagascar)

Links for your journey:

Galapagos

Australia

Indian Ocean

1. On the Galapagos, was there an importance to the island location of each sample? How would this offer insight to variation?
2. What is the significance of the differing finches? Would Darwin have benefited from having labeled each sample with the island from which it came?
3. When observing the platypus, Darwin was at first convinced that they must have occurred from a separate act of creation. How would this animal challenge his theory of gradual change? How would it challenge any other theory of the time?