Darwin's Theory of Evolution

                                                Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

            Charles Darwin contributed most to our understandings of evolution. Darwin set sail from England to voyage around the world in 1831 at age 22. During his trip Darwin made many observations and collected lots of information to propose a revolutionary hypothesis about life changes over time. His hypothesis became the theory of evolution. Whenever his ship landed Darwin collected many plant and animal specimens so that he can analyze when he was back on the sea waiting to set foot on another land. Darwin was astonished by the fact that that many of the plants and animals were well suited for the environment in which they were living in. Darwin was also puzzled by the fact that one animal that lived in one climate did not also live on a land with the exact same climate and land vegetation. On his voyage Darwin also collected fossils that looked similar to animals that were still around but some of the fossils looked like a creature that he had never seen before. On Darwin’s notes that were found he seemed very interested while at the Galapagos Islands because here two islands relatively close to each other had very distinct climates. Here he noted that the shape of tortoise’s shells were different when they lived in different climates. He also noted that their necks seemed to be adjusted according to where their food was located. Tortoise’s with short necks has their food close to the ground but tortoises with food a little higher had longer necks to reach their food. Darwin also collected several different types of birds to look at. On these birds he noted that the shapes of their beaks distinct. When Darwin was heading back home to Europe he started to put all of the information that he collected together. After seeing the same type of animal in a different and them looking similar but with different details Darwin came up with the idea that one type of species spread to other lands and evolved to fit certain needs based on food, climate, and land vegetation. In Darwin’s era mostly everybody believed that the earth was only a few thousand years old. When the people from his era heard his hypothesis of Earth’s age they were outraged. Darwin stated that his findings from his voyage could show how people, plants and animals have evolved and how this can simply mean that the earth is old.