SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Mockingbird Specimens Sparked Darwin's Theory
from the Guardian (UK)
The significance of the two birds lying side by side on a purple cushion with tags dangling from their feet is easy to miss. But the subtle differences—a strip of white on the wing, a smudge of dark on the breast—set Charles Darwin on course to develop the most important scientific theory ever conceived: the evolution of species through natural selection.
The mockingbirds are perhaps the most important specimens Darwin collected from the Galapagos during his five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle in the 1830s, and today they go on show as part of a major exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.
It reveals Darwin as a tenacious scientist, a pragmatic lover, and a man pained by losing his religion. The exhibition is the centrepiece of a nationwide programme to mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birthday next February.
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