Darwin Essay On Evolution

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Evolution is the scientific theory of the development of living organisms during their period on earth. The theory takes into consideration the biological processes of natural selection, mutation, symbiosis, gene transfer, and genetic drift. Charles Darwin, a naturalist born on the 12th of February 1809 in England, is a significant figure in the science concept. Darwin grew up loving nature and went to Edinburgh University. On the trip around the world, Darwin collected natural samples, including birds, plants, and fossils. Darwin found a particular interest in the Pacific islands and South America. When he arrived back in England, he wrote up his findings as part of the Captain's narrative. Darwin started working on his theory after coming back from the trip. He observed that species had the same characteristics all over the world, leading him to believe that species slowly evolved from their ancestors. In 1859, Charles Darwin published his work in his book On the Origin of Species. On Darwin's trip around the world, he found something very interesting on the Galapagos Islands. On the isolated islands, he found fourteen species of finches with very similar characteristics, but they had some differences in their beaks, diet, body size, and habitat. Darwin thought the birds had a common ancestor. He thought that some time back, some finches arrived on the islands, and the finches with the beaks that suited the islands' conditions survived. This happened on all the islands. When they had offspring, the next generation would inherit the same beak. This is a great example of natural selection, which was a contributor to how humans evolved. From this, Darwin established his theory of natural selection and how creatures slowly evolved over time. Scientists have discovered many artefacts that help us understand how early humans lived. For example, fossils of early humans show that they lived in Africa around 6 million years ago. Other artefacts, such as tools, paintings, footprints, and figurines, show how they lived. The markings the muscles left helped the scientists work out how they moved and held tools. One of the biggest findings was Lucy, a 40% complete skeleton discovered in Ethiopia. This helped scientists understand more about the way early humans walked on two legs. The most complete hominin skeleton ever found was Ardi, an Ardipithecus ramidus who was around 4.4 million years old. Interesting facts include that early humans left Africa over 1 million years ago, some people may still have some Neanderthal genes, and around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, the human population nearly became extinct. The population went from around 2 million people to only around 3,000 people. Scientists think this was thanks to the combination of a super-volcano erupting and the ice-age.

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