Charles Darwin And Natural Selection: Explaining How Evolution Might Work

Charles Darwin was the father of evolution. He has given us many ideas today about how animals obtain their traits. “Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected with the social instincts which in us would be called moral,”-Charles Darwin. He was one of the few scientists who believed animals had more potential than humans. He is mainly known for developing the theory of Natural Selection. Natural Selection is the theory whereby animals that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. He developed many theories that we still use today. Charles Darwin with the help of Alfred Wallace changed all the ideas and speculations for evolution by taking Lamarck’s ideas and giving a reasonable

There were many different beliefs about Natural Selection. Lamarck’s theory for example was based on pure speculation and educated guesses. Lamarck believed that animals actually strived to evolve instead of it happening naturally like Darwin and Wallace suggested. Lamarck thought the only reason giraffes had long necks was because of many years of stretching their necks (Vision, 2014). Other naturalists of that time also had similar ideas to Lamarck about evolution in the sense that animals acquired characteristic differences and passed them to their offspring. Darwin had observed how each different species of finch on Galapagos had a specialized beak developed for their environment. Some finches had larger beaks that were used for breaking hard shells of nuts and others had smaller beaks that were used for uprooting worms and small insects for food. These birds did not intend to have these large beaks they were just born with them and it just so happened that they would be useful to

Darwin’s five theories of evolution were Evolution, Common Descent, Species Multiply, Gradualism, and Natural Selection. The temperature rises have been factors in the evolution of species in areas that experience these high temperatures forcing them to adapt to harsh weather changes. Some animals needed to shed their thick coat to be able to keep their body cool. This new trait began to get passed down from one organism to another. Other examples include, changes to rainfall, ocean acidification, and habitat destruction. All of these changes have required animals to adapt and change at a rather fast pace. The organisms that couldn’t adapt to this change die off and the stronger organisms breed to make the species stronger and create a new trait. Examples of these changes would be species migrating, reproducing more or developing faster. Some physical changes include longer necks wider wingspan thicker or thinner fur depending on the climate in the