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Article: Beaks change songs in Darwin's finches.(Galapagos finches)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- August 26, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The 14 species of Galapagos finches that have inspired evolutionists since the days of Charles Darwin may reveal yet more. The birds may have evolved different courtship songs as byproducts of beak changes, suggests Jeffrey Podos of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Standard theories of how species arise suggest such a possibility: Mating signals diversify as aftereffects of animals' adapting to different environments. The idea sounds good, but evidence to support it has been "limited," as Podos puts it.
Well-known work over 3 decades by Peter Grant and Rosemary Grant of Princeton University linked beak size to shifting food supplies. Droughts favor ...