Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species

As Charles Darwin voyaged through the Galapagos Island, he discovered something quite surprising: many of the different animals that he had observed seemed to have similar structures. After a long period of consideration, he soon came into conclusion; these different species might have originated from common ancestors. This idea is what establishes the root of modern Biology; it depicts the variation of species and how these animals came to be. The book, On the Origin of Species, is a scientific literature written by Charles Darwin. It is often considered as the “foundation of biology” and focuses on the idea of natural selection. On the Origin of Species successfully portrays how diverse groups originated from a few common ancestors, the variation

He reveals how after a long period of time and exposure to a new condition, organic beings tend to change greatly over time. “It seems clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to new conditions to cause any great amount of variation; and that, when the organization has once begun to vary, it generally continues varying for many generations” (Darwin 4%) In other words, Darwin wishes to portray the fact that in order for variation, or change, to occur, a long period and several generations must pass for these different species to gain new conditions and vary. Organic beings must be exposed for generations, in order for them to experience variation. However, once it beings to vary, the variation proceeds for several generations. This evidently reveals how despite their different appearances and forms, many different species derived from a common

In this case, only the “fittest” survive and produce offspring. “As natural selection acts solely by the preservation of profitable modification, each new form will tend in a fully-stocked country to take the place of, and finally to exterminate, its own less improved parent-form and other less-favoured forms with which it comes into competition. Thus extinction and natural selection go hand in hand” (Darwin 31%). This clearly portrays the process of natural selection and its relation to extinction. Natural selection only selects the “fittest” of the animals (species) with the suitable characteristics to the environment. Those that are not selected or lack the right characteristics will die out because they simply cannot compete with those that “better.” This eventually results in the extinction of less-suited animals. On the other hand, the animals that are well-suited stay alive and