Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

It seems that Peter and Rosemary Grant had more in common with Darwin than finches. They each began their careers in evolutionary biology with a curiosity about the variation of animals and plants.

Darwin studied the variations of barnacles before he ever considered birds on his journey. He spent six years trying to classify each barnacle specimen. Within each barnacle, species there are variations, and Darwin hypothesized these variations eventually led to a change in the species, creating an entirely new species.

In "Origin of Species," Darwin ponders why nature is not in a state of confusion and chaos. His answer is that the cause that creates variations also causes the unneeded and unwanted variations to go away. However, this is only true in part. The finch species are in chaos. There are variations occurring in the present that are causing...