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Darwin's Finches
Darwin's finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. They are well known for being a classic example of adaptive radiation and for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. They are often classified as the subfamily Geospizinae or tribe (biology), tribe Geospizini. They belong to the Thraupidae, tanager Family (biology), family and are not closely related to the true finches. The closest known relative of the Galápagos finches is the South American dull-coloured grassquit (''Asemospiza obscura''). They were first collected when Second voyage of HMS Beagle, the second voyage of the ''Beagle'' visited the Galápagos Islands, with Charles Darwin on board as a gentleman naturalist. Apart from the Cocos finch, which is from Cocos Island, the others are found only on the Galápagos Islands. The term "Darwin's finches" was first applied by Percy Lowe in 1936, and popularised in 1947 by David Lack in his book ''Darwin' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Large Ground Finch
The large ground finch (''Geospiza magnirostris'') is a species of bird in the genus Geospiza. One of Darwin's finches, it is now placed in the tanager family Thraupidae and was formerly in the Emberizidae. It is the largest species of Darwin's finch. Description The large ground finch weighs about 27-39 g, and its length ranges slightly 15-16 cm. It is the largest species of Darwin's finch both in total size and size of beak. The feather and bill colors vary between males and females. The adult male is mostly black, with slightly browner wings and tail; the cloaca is white-streaked; the eyes are dark brown. It also has blackish legs. The tail is relatively short. An adult female has browner feathers compared to a male, sometimes with yellow-brown or grey outer edges; scaled patterns are found going up the body; most parts of the torso and the head are streaked with brown and pale yellow shades. Beak It has a large beak, having a thick base of lower mandibles and curved cul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dull-coloured Grassquit
The dull-coloured grassquit (''Asemospiza obscura'') is a small bird. It is recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwin's finches. Distribution and habitat It is found in northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and western Venezuela. It is a vagrant to Paraguay and central Brazil. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ..., subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. References dull-coloured grassquit Birds of the Northern Andes Birds of Peru dull-coloured grassquit Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Thraupidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI and I, James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's Ancient universities of Scotland, four ancient universities and the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. The university played a crucial role in Edinburgh becoming a leading intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Etymology of Edinburgh#Athens of the North, Athens of the North". The three main global university rankings (Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, THE, and QS World University Rankings, QS) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edmonstone
John Edmonstone was a taxidermist and teacher of taxidermy in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an influential Black Briton. Early life Born into slavery on a wood plantation in Demerara, British Guiana (present-day Guyana, South America), he was given the surname of his slave-owner, Charles Edmonstone, who owned the plantation and also owned the Cardross Park estate at Cardross, near Dumbarton in Scotland. Around 1812 the plantation was visited by the naturalist Charles Waterton, who spent considerable time teaching John Edmonstone taxidermy. Career In 1817, Edmonstone went to Scotland with his master, possibly to become a servant to the Edmonstone family at Cardross Park. Having come there, he was freed, and he took employment in Glasgow, then moved to Edinburgh, where in 1823 he set up shop as a "bird-stuffer" at 37 Lothian Street. From this shop, he taught taxidermy to students attending the nearby University of Edinburgh, including Charles Darwin in 1826, when Darwin wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Beagle
HMS ''Beagle'' was a 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. Later reports say the ship took part in celebrations of the coronation of George IV, passing under the old London Bridge, and was the first rigged man-of-war afloat upriver of the bridge. There was no immediate need for ''Beagle'', so she " lay in ordinary", moored afloat but without masts or rigging. She was then adapted as a survey barque and took part in three survey expeditions. The second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' is notable for carrying the recently graduated naturalist Charles Darwin around the world. While the survey work was carried out, Darwin travelled and researched geology, natural history and ethnology onshore. He gained fame by publishing his diary journal, best known as '' The Voyage of the Beagle'', and his findings played a pivotal role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection. Historically, adaptation has been described from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Aristotle. In 18th and 19th-century natural theology, adaptation was taken as evidence for the existence of a deity. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace proposed instead that it was explained by natural selection. Adaptation is related to biological fitness, which governs the rate of evolution as measured by changes in allele frequencies. Often, two or more species co-adapt and co-evolve as they develop adaptations tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetarian Finch
The vegetarian finch (''Platyspiza crassirostris'') is a species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae endemic to the Galápagos Islands. It is the only member of the genus ''Platyspiza.'' Taxonomy The vegetarian finch is one of Darwin's finches, a group of closely related birds that evolved on the Galápagos Islands. The group is related to the yellow-faced grassquit (''Tiaris olivaceus'') which is found in South and Central America and the Caribbean. An ancestral relative of the grassquit arrived on the Galápagos Islands some 2–3 million years ago, and the vegetarian finch is an early evolutionary radiation from that ancestor. When Darwin first collected the species in 1835, he assumed it was a finch. John Gould, who formally described the vegetarian finch in 1837, placed it in a new genus ''Camarhynchus'' and coined the binomial name ''Camarhynchus crassirostris''. The vegetarian finch is now placed in the genus ''Platyspiza'' that was int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warbler-finch
The warbler-finches are a genus ''Certhidea'' of birds in the tanager family Thraupidae that are endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Together with related genera, they are collectively known as Darwin's finches. The two species were formerly considered to be conspecific; however, they have different songs, prefer different habitats, and are located in different areas on the islands. Taxonomy and species list The genus ''Certhidea'' was introduced in 1837 by the English ornithologist John Gould with the green warbler-finch as the type species. The name is a Latin diminutive of the genus ''Certhia'' introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the treecreepers. The members of the genus form part of a group collectively known as Darwin's finches. Although traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Darwin's finches are members of the subfamily Coerebinae within the tanager family Thraupidae. The ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lack
David Lambert Lack FRS (16 July 1910 – 12 March 1973) was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landmark work as were his other popular science books on ''Life of the Robin'' and ''Swifts in a Tower''. He developed what is now known as Lack's Principle which explained the evolution of avian clutch sizes in terms of individual selection as opposed to the competing contemporary idea that they had evolved for the benefit of species (also known as group selection). His pioneering life-history studies of the living bird helped in changing the nature of ornithology from what was then a collection-oriented field. He was a longtime director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford. Education and early life Lack was born in London, the oldest of four children of Harry Lambert Lack MD FRCS, who later became P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Percy Lowe
Percy Roycroft Lowe (2 January 1870 – 18 August 1948) was an English surgeon and ornithologist. Life Lowe was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and studied medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge. He served as a civil surgeon in the Second Boer War, and it was whilst in South Africa that he became interested in ornithology. On his return he became private physician to Sir Frederick Johnstone, 8th Baronet, whose constant travel exposed Lowe to birds all around the world. During World War One he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps; he was Officer in Command on Princess Christian Ambulance Train for which he was awarded the OBE in 1920. Lowe worked with Dorothea Bate on fossil ostriches in China. In November 1919 he succeeded William Robert Ogilvie-Grant as Curator of Birds at the Natural History Museum, retiring on his sixty-fifth birthday in 1935. He was succeeded by Norman Boyd Kinnear. He was editor of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club from 1920 to 1925 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocos Island
Cocos Island () is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 15 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Puntarenas Province, Province of Puntarenas. With an area of approximately , the island is roughly rectangular in shape. It is the Extreme points of North America, southernmost point of geopolitical North America if Island#Continental islands, non-continental islands are included, and the only landmass above water on the Cocos Plate, Cocos tectonic plate. The entirety of Cocos Island has been designated a Costa Rican National Parks of Costa Rica, National Park since 1978, and has no permanent inhabitants other than Costa Rican park rangers. As a result, it has been labelled as the world's largest uninhabited tropical island. Surrounded by deep waters with Equatorial Counter Current, counter-currents, Cocos Island is admired by Scuba set, scuba divers for its populations o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocos Finch
The Cocos finch (''Pinaroloxias inornata'') or Cocos Island finch, is the only one of Darwin's finches not native to the Galápagos Islands, and the only member of the genus ''Pinaroloxias''. Sometimes classified in the family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown it to belong in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It is endemic to Cocos Island, a Pacific island which is approximately south of Costa Rica. Taxonomy The Cocos finch was formally described in 1843 by the English ornithologist John Gould under the binomial name ''Cactornis inornatus''. The species was moved to a new genus ''Pinaroloxias'' by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1885. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''pinaros'' meaning "dirty" or "squalid" with '' Loxia'', a genus introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the crossbills. The specific epithet ''inornata'' is Latin for "plain" or "unadorned". The Cocos finch is a member of a group collectively known as Darwin's finches. Although traditionally placed w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
