The finches of Galapagos islands provide an evidence in favour of

The finches of Galapagos islands provide an evidence in favour of
A evolution due to mutation
B retrogressive evolution
C biogeographical evolution
D special creation

Detailed Solution

During his voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands and observed many varieties of small black birds, later called Darwin's finches.
All the varieties had evolved on the islands themselves from a common seed-eating ancestor that came from the South American mainland.
On the different islands, which were geographically isolated from each other and offered different kinds of food, the finches developed different beaks and feeding habits (seed-eating, insect-eating, cactus-eating and so on).
This is evolution linked with geographical distribution and isolation, i.e. an example of biogeographical evidence of evolution, and of adaptive radiation.
It was not explained by mutation, it is progressive and not retrogressive, and it goes against the theory of special creation.
So the finches of the Galapagos islands provide evidence in favour of biogeographical evolution.

Evolution in past papers

104 questions from this chapter have appeared across 22 exam years.

Keep going

Practise Evolution All 104 questions This chapter in 2007 AIPMT-PRE