Darwin’s Voyage

Darwin visited a wide range of habitats in different continents and recorded what he had found. On his visits, he noticed that different, yet ecologically similar, animals species inhabited separated, but ecologically similar, habitats around the globe. For example, Darwin found flightless birds called Rhea’s living in the grasslands of South America. Rhea’s look and act a lot like ostriches yet ostriches only live in Africa and Rhea’s only live in South America.

Darwin noticed that different, yet related, animal species often occupied different habitats within a local area. He observed that different islands such as the Galapagos Island had different varieties of the same animals such as mockingbirds and tortoises.

Darwin noticed that some fossils of extinct animals were similar to living species. Darwin collected fossils of organisms that looked like living organisms. An example is an armadillo. Fossils from a long extinct glyptodont were found, and the similar animal living in the same area is an armadillo. The armadillo just happens to be a smaller version.

Darwin’s journey began in 1831, when he was invited to sail on the HMS Beagle’s five year voyage. They mapped the coast line of Sough America and Darwin planned to collect specimens of plants and animals. Darwin collected an over abundance of organisms and recorded everything he found. He realized that there were three different patterns of biological diversity.