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Big Bird (finch)
Big Bird, also known as the Big Bird lineage, is one of the species of Darwin's finches that is exclusively present on Daphne Major of the Galápagos Islands. It originated from a single male Española cactus finch (''Geospiza conirostris'') that immigrated to Daphne Major in 1981, which founded a hybrid lineage by breeding with a female medium ground finch and creating 5 offspring. It resembles the medium ground finch but is relatively larger, hence, the name. The offspring tend to breed only with their own family members, thereby giving rise to reproductive isolation and undergoing speciation. Discovered by the research team of Peter and Rosemary Grant, the formation of Big Birds as a distinct species is considered as an instance of observed speciation and as a process of evolution by natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's The Muppets, Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national Public broadcasting, public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to Pay television, premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016, then its sister streaming service Max (streaming service), HBO Max in 2020, and most recently Netflix in 2025. The show's format consists of a combination of Commercial broadcasting, commercial television production element ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daphne Major Finches
The Daphne Major finches are a group of Darwin's finches that inhabit Daphne Major island of the Galápagos. The common cactus finch (''Geospiza scandens'') and the medium ground finch (''G. fortis'') are the main species; while the large ground finch (''G. magnirostris'') and the Española cactus finch (''G. conirostris'') are regular immigrants. Most extensively studied by Peter and Rosemary Grant of Princeton University since 1973, the birds are one of the sources of the understanding of bird behaviour, adaptation, and evolution. Since the early 1980s, it has been observed that a population of finches on Daphne Major, named the Big Bird lineage, has started to develop into what will likely become a distinct species. These birds are currently still considered as hybrids of the Española cactus finch (''G. conirostris'') and the medium ground finch, but the breeding of the offspring exclusively among themselves gave rise to a new lineage which are reproductively isolated T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Daphne Major
Daphne Major is a volcanic island just north of Santa Cruz Island and just west of the Baltra Airport in the Archipelago of Colón, commonly known as the Galápagos Islands. It consists of a tuff crater, devoid of trees, whose rim rises above the sea. Though easily accessible to most visitors to the Galápagos, the national park service has highly restricted visits to this island, and it is primarily used for scientific research. Daphne Major finches are the main source of the understanding of animal evolution in the Galápagos. An intensive study of Darwin's finches was conducted here by biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant over a period of 20 years. They examined the behaviour and life cycles of the finches, demonstrating the role of natural selection in producing biological evolution. Their efforts were documented in the Pulitzer Prize–winning book '' The Beak of the Finch''. Daphne is home to a variety of other birds including Galápagos martins, blue-footed booby, Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of slightly over 33,000 (2020). The province is divided into the Cantons of Ecuador, cantons of San Cristóbal Island, San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos), Santa Cruz, and Isabela Island (Galápagos), Isabela, the three most populated islands in the chain. The Galápagos are famous for their large number of Endemism, endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin in the 1830s and inception of Darwin's theory, inspired his theory of evolution by means of natural selection. All of these islands are protected as part of Ecuador's Galápagos National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve, Marine Reserve. Thus far, there is no firm evidence that Polynesian expansion, Polynesians or the indigenous peoples of South America, Indigenous pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Española Cactus Finch
The Española cactus finch (''Geospiza conirostris''), is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is one of Darwin's finches, and is endemic to the Galápagos islands, where it is restricted to Española, Genovesa, and the Darwin and Wolf Islands. This rather dark bird resembles the smaller and finer-beaked common cactus finch, but the two species do not co-inhabit any island. Its natural habitat is dry shrubland and it is commonly seen on the ground. Its main food source is the cactus ''Opuntia''. Taxonomy The Española cactus 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 '' Tiaris'' grassquits, which are found in South America and the Caribbean. An ancestral relative of those grassquits arrived on the Galápagos Islands some 2–3 million years ago, and the Española cactus finch is one of the species that evolved from that ancestor.Grant & Grant (2008), p. 25. From a st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely genetic distance, related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and other consequences that may arise from expression of wikt:deleterious, deleterious dominance (genetics), recessive traits resulting from incestuous sexual relationships and consanguinity. Animals avoid inbreeding only rarely. Inbreeding results in homozygous, homozygosity which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive phenotypic trait, traits. In extreme cases, this usually leads to at least temporarily decreased Fitness (biology), biological fitness of a population (called inbreeding depression), which is its ability to survive and reproduce. An individual who inherits such deleterious traits is colloquially referred to as ''inbred''. The avoidance of expression of such deleterious recessive allel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter And Rosemary Grant
Peter Raymond Grant (born October 26, 1936) and Barbara Rosemary Grant (born October 8, 1936) are a British married couple who are evolutionary biologists at Princeton University. Each currently holds the position of emeritus professor. They are known for their work with Darwin's finches on Daphne Major, one of the Galápagos Islands. Since 1973, the Grants have spent six months of every year capturing, tagging, and taking blood samples from finches on the island. They have worked to show that natural selection can be seen within a single lifetime, or even within a couple of years. Charles Darwin originally thought that natural selection was a long, drawn out process but the Grants have shown that these changes in populations can happen very quickly. In 1994, they were awarded the Leidy Award from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The Grants were the subject of the book '' The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time'' by Jonathan Weiner, which wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within lineages. Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book ''On the Origin of Species''. He also identified sexual selection as a likely mechanism, but found it problematic. There are four geographic modes of speciation in nature, based on the extent to which speciating populations are isolated from one another: allopatric speciation, allopatric, peripatric speciation, peripatric, parapatric speciation, parapatric, and sympatric speciation, sympatric. Whether genetic drift is a minor or major contributor to speciation is the subject of much ongoing discussion. Rapid sympatric speciation can take place through polyploidy, such as by doubling of chromosome number; the result is progeny wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with selective breeding, artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not. Genetic diversity, Variation of traits, both Genotype, genotypic and phenotypic, exists within all populations of organisms. However, some traits are more likely to facilitate survival and reproductive success. Thus, these traits are passed the next generation. These traits can also become more Allele frequency, common within a population if the environment that favours these traits remains fixed. If new traits become more favoured due to changes in a specific Ecological niche, niche, microevolution occurs. If new traits become more favoured due to changes in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geospiza
''Geospiza'' is a genus of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. All species in the genus are endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Together with related genera, they are collectively known as Darwin's finches. Although in the past, they were classified in the bunting and American sparrow family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown they belong in the tanager family. Taxonomy and species list The genus ''Geospiza'' was introduced in 1837 by the English ornithologist John Gould with the large ground finch as the type species. The genus name derives from the two Ancient Greek words (), meaning "earth", and (), a catch-all term for ''finch''-like birds. The member 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Birds Of The Galápagos Islands
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
