How did Charles Darwin solve the theory of evolution?

Answer 1

Evolution was seen by many. But the mechanics were not well understood. One of Darwin's observations involved finches in the different Galapagos Islands. Each island had finches with slightly different physical attributes. Charles Darwin noticed that the shape of their beaks were different, depending on their primary food. Some beaks were shaped to make eating seeds more efficient. Others were shaped to eat insects.

The finches that Darwin brought back as stuffed specimens, are still present in the British Museum. The collection is mounted, and it is easy to see the differences. Darwin felt that all of these different finches were descendants of finches that were blown on to the islands during a storm. Darwin was able to show that small differences gave finches on various islands an advantage. After many generations, each island had finches whose differences were very obvious.

According to Darwin, the finch that lived on a specific island, did not choose to change. But small changes in beak structure, gave those birds an advantage. They were able to gather more food, and eventually had more living offspring.

A good example are dandelions growing on a lawn. The lawn mower is set at a specific height. As you mow your lawn, the taller dandelions have their tops cut off. No flowers, they can't reproduce. But the few shorter dandelions are left, their pollen reproduce, and now most of the dandelions are short, close to the ground, and difficult for the lawn mower to cut them off.