UNIT 2 DAY 1 - DARWIN ON THE BEAGLE

Question 1

Darwin’s background and education

Answer 1

• From Shrewsbury, England and comes from a wealthy family
• freedom to pursue whatever career he wanted
• Erasmus and Josiah were friends –> shared an interest in science and abolition of slavery

Question 2

Darwin growing up

Answer 2

• Shewsbury school in England
• undisciplined student but extremely smart
• 16 –> father put him into med school at Uni of Edinburgh
• besides medicine, studied geology, chemistry, biology, poetry and travel
• he dropped out and father told him he had to become a clergyman (had to join cambridge)

Question 3

Darwin’s experiences on HMS beagle

Answer 3

• Robert Fitzroy was commander of HMS Beagle
• Beagles –> survey vessel that was out to improve navigation charts
• Darwin joined the Beagle to be a companion to Fitzroy –> because worried about depression from social isolation
• voyage meant to take 2 years but took 5
• collected rocks, fossils, plants, beatles and birds

Question 4

Major Events in South America 1

Answer 4

• found fossil mammals
  –> helped Darwin gain fame in Europe and noticed trends in similar animals

Question 5

Major Events in South America 2

Answer 5

• Argentine Pampas (large flightless ostriches) (rheas)
• intrigued by their mating habits –> males do all the parenting, brooding eggs of several females
• intrigued at the gauchos (second smaller species), “Avestruz Petise” (little rhea)

Question 6

Major Events in South America 3

Answer 6

• encountered Fuegians at tip of South America
• saw men go from civilised to savage –> Darwin judged men based on culture

Question 7

Major Events in South America 4

Answer 7

• earthquakes in Chile, causes land to rise –> became huge mountains

Question 8

Darwin’s near death experiences

Answer 8

• Pampas Indians –> fiercely resisting war of extermination waged against spanish, slaughtered the small parties
• Calving glacier nearly capsized lone ship’s boat that carried Darwin and Fitzroy
• trapped for a week outside Buenos Aires during an armed insurrection

Question 9

Darwin’s view on slavery

Answer 9

• played a role in theory making
• met canoe people of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) and Fuegians
• white face paint and were naked
• Darwin’s abolitions upbringing helped him see them as humans and not inferior to Europeans
• Helped him conclude that humans are similar to animals and we share common ancestry

Question 10

Fuegians

Answer 10

• lived on southern tip of South America
• Darwin failed to understand their climate and clothing choices
• concluded Fuegians were a distinct species of human, inferior to Europeans
• compared Fuegians to animals, differing only due to environment
• Darwin over time, developed his view –> shared common ancestry with fuegians and animals

Question 11

monogenism

Answer 11

single origin for humanity

Question 12

polygenism

Answer 12

multiple origins for humanity

Question 13

creationist theory

Answer 13

all species are the same, got one male and female to test

Question 14

Theories

Answer 14

• relatively simple principles that can explain many off in seemingly unconnected observations about nature
• make predictions about future observations which allow them to be tested
• survived many tests sequential observations that have been consistent with the theory

Question 15

mature theories

Answer 15

• survived many tests, supported by a great deal of evidence, likely to be true

Question 16

infant theory

Answer 16

• rarely survives
• Darwin equally skilled in combining and testing infant theories until he has produced one that he considered sufficiently comprehensive and supported by enough evidence

Question 17

Darwin’s Finches

Answer 17

• birds darwin collected
• neglected to label by island
• differences can be seen in size and shape of beak

Question 18

Mockingbirds

Answer 18

• mockingbirds differed on each island (needed to pay closer attention to their collection)
• due to difference in mockingbirds, regretted his lack of collection for tortoises
• ## different species of mockingbirds –> all exclusively found and habitats are indistinguishable –> must be a variety of each other

Question 19

Doubts

Answer 19

• all competent. naturalists knew basics of transmutationist thinking –> Darwin rejected it
• differences in species could be a new variety
• ideas of new species as it moved to new islands
• whether things existed elsewhere or if they were different varieties questioned

Question 20

A bold theorist

Answer 20

• voyage helped Darwin develop into an acute observer, intrepid explorer and a fluent writer
• contradictions of what he thought and what he observed came into focus

Question 21

Tortoises

Answer 21

• one can tell from the shape of its shell to which island it belongs to
• brought 4 young tortoises back but not old enough to show differences