Why Did Some Finches Survive

Some finches inherited longer beaks, this allowed them to open more seeds and access more food. Inheriting the longer beaks is not proven, but any animal inherited traits just like humans. So gathering this information we can conclude that they inherit their long beaks. Having a long beak was crucial in order for the finches to survive through the drought. Two finches, for example, that survived the drought, had bigger beak sizes. Gf69 had a beak length of 13.01 millimeters and weighed 13.41 grams. Another finch that survived the drought had a beak length of 10.97 and weighed about 12 grams. Yet a finch that didn’t survive had a beak length of 9.92 millimeters. All 10 finches that survived through the drought had longer beaks that averaged to 11.939 millimeters. This is a large beak size compared to a bird that did not survive with a beak length of 7.21 millimeters. A bigger beak length allows a finch to pry open harder seeds unlike the finches with smaller beaks. Some field notes were taken from the Grants, and they told us that a finch was spotted struggling to open a seed. For this reason finches with longer beaks were able to get food more easily than finches with smaller beaks. In conclusion, some finches had a longer lifespan than other for the reason that they had longer beaks. On top of that they were able to survive the

Darwin has listed different names for each bird, they are all variations of Finches, apparently descended from a common ancestor. However, each bird has a different length beak and many are differently shaped to allow them to more efficiently eat the available fodder. Coincidentally, Mr. Darwin failed to catalog specifically where each bird came from and had to ask the ship’s captain to supply this information along with his collection to Mr. Gould for identification and cataloging. An interesting part of the conversation between Mr. Darwin and the ship’s captain is the captain’s argument for the fixity of species, that each one was created by God exactly the way it was, and placed on each island, and that it is heresy to say that they came to be there any other way.

Everyone makes mistakes whether he is young, old, child, or adult. Some are faced with harder, more serious and, possibly life-changing decisions. Two great examples of individuals who were faced with many life-changing decisions are Bartle and Sterling, characters from the book The Yellow Birds, which was written by Kevin Powers. These two are soldiers in battle accompanied by a memorable man, and fellow comrade, Daniel Murphy. The reader finds out that Daniel Murphy, Murph in short, was brutally murdered at the end of the book. Bartle and Sterling find Murph’s mutilated body and decide to burn the crime scene and send his body down the river (Powers 210-211). Why did they do it? Was covering up Murph’s death the

The poop of the Galapagos Penguin fertilizes the land allowing for the healthy growth of plants which are consumed by other animals that live on the islands. If the Galapagos Penguin became extinct, it could possibly cause the extermination of local plants such as the “Ulva” leading to the extinction of the animals which rely on them. These include the “Parrot Fish”, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, “Five-Spotted Anthia” as well as many more species of land and sea

F. Divina, "Game Birds and Fowl." In Foods of the Americas, 224. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2004.

Medium ground finches are one of the 13 species of finches. These finches, the medium ground finches have large beaks. You can find these finches at Daphne Major, in the center of Galapagos island. Daphne Major is also located near South America in the South Pacific ocean.

In the Galapagos Islands there is an island named, Daphne Major, this island plays as the host of the Galapagos finches. In 1976 - 1977 there was an absolute near extinction of these finches. This is because of the drought of 1976 and 1977 (see figure 1). While the drought made the Finch population dwindle there was a hidden trait that was helping some survive, and that is beak size. Why did the larger beaks help those fortunate Finches survive? Because the only plants that survived where plants like the Tribulus, which produces hard shelled seeds. While there was an abundance of hard shelled seeds there was a shortage of soft shelled seeds. The finches that had the larger beaks weighed more, for example, survivors weighed approx. 12.5g to 17.5g with beak sizes going from 10.5 to 13.6(for evidence see figure 2. This reduced the population because the Finch’s with the smaller beaks couldn't open the harder seeds and had to scavenge for soft seeds which were very rare. The finches with small beaks, then died from starvation

There is only one way that the finches could have died in those numbers with the current circumstances, and that is starvation. This lack food was brought on by a terrible drought (see graph 1) that destroyed the plants that fed the Galapagos Finches. When the drought hit, most finches did not mate, and so stunted the growth of the population as well as kill many of their number.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee follows the Finch family through the hardships of the 1930s. The story takes place in fictitious Maycomb County, Alabama during the 1930s, when there were many racial issues such as the Jim Crow Laws. The Finch family consists of Jean Louise, nicknamed Scout, her brother Jeremy Finch, nicknamed Jem, and their father Atticus Finch who is one of the most prestigious lawyers in Maycomb County. The family experiences first hand, the harsh injustices that face the blacks leading the children to lose their purity. Man’s inhumanity to man compels Harper Lee to write To Kill A Mockingbird exposing the social issues; causing Jem, Scout, and Dill to lose their innocence; which provokes me to have a different

My "To Kill a Mockingbird" project is a Finch family tree. My rationale for this project was to better understand the Finch family and how everyone was related. The Finch family has many friends and neighbors that aren't apart of the family, but are treated like family. For this project, I believe I deserve an A.

The Character Evolution of Three Youngsters “We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges” (Joyce Meyer). As the story progresses, Jem and Scout stumble upon many challenges, that help them develop into maturity The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, evolves around the three main characters; Atticus Finch, an attorney, Scout Finch, and Jem Finch. This novel takes place in the southern Alabama, where racism has already taken its toll. Atticus Finch takes action towards racism by defending Tom Robinson, a poor African American falsely accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. As the story progresses, Jem and Scout, along with their friend Dill, stumble upon many challenges that help them develop into maturity.

Colombia’s wildlife animals are being endangered due to loss of habitat which is stolen by drug crops. Colombia, “has more bird species than any other country… but rare endemic birds - such as the gorgeted puffleg, a hummingbird discovered just three years ago in southwest Colombia - are losing habitat within their limited ranges to coca cultivation.” (Carpenter). The gorgeted puffleg isn’t the only endangered species, nor is it a coincidence that it’s habitat is in known drug regions of Colombia. Other wildlife, which are native to the south of Colombia, have had their homes exploited and used for cultivation; this is true for four magnolia species who are facing inevitable extinction. The demand for land by the cocaine industry is driving drug farmers to participate in the destruction of ecosystems through the means of illegal agriculture

The Savegre Biosphere is a diverse environment located in Costa Rica. Among the 59% of birds flying through the area, the bird that is mostly known by tourists and residents is the Quetzal. The Quetzal is known as the specialized fruit eating bird. Quetzals are small and loud but fascinate many with their brightly colored feathers and body (WWF). As a defense mechanism, the Quetzal will use its green body to blend into the green forest background. Quetzal’s are omnivores. Their daily diet is typically fruits and drinking water from bromeliads, but occasionally feast on insects, lizards and frogs (WWF). Preferring to live high up in the trees, they nest themselves right in the fruit trees they eat from. The fruits that Quetzals eat are from

Krichman (2009) examined the ancestry of flightless birds (Gallirallus philippenesis) through the usage of genetic testing that were sampled throughout a range of ancestral species. This was to test a model of speciation where flightless birds were thought to have evolved from flying birds

Darwin’s theory of evolution is the most commonly accepted theory because of the strong evidence that the theory is built on. One of the most famous examples of Darwin’s theory is the Galapagos finches. Darwin observed different finches from different islands of the Galapagos. He found that the finches from all the different islands had differently evolved beaks. Darwin