2: 3. Darwin's Finches, Evolution, and Avian Intelligence AUTHOR: Stephen Moss BOOK TITLE: 10 Birds That Changed the World This excerpt addresses the myth that Darwin immediately understood evolution from the Galapagos Finches; he actually focused on pigeons
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
3. Darwin's Finches, Evolution, and Avian Intelligence
BOOK TITLE: 10 Birds That Changed the World
This excerpt addresses the myth that Darwin immediately understood evolution from the Galapagos Finches; he actually focused on pigeons in The Origin of Species. The finches were only named in his honor about 100 years after his birth. It highlights the work of Peter and Rosemary Grant, who demonstrated that birds can evolve very quickly (in a couple of years) when conditions, such as El Niño, change dramatically. The discussion concludes by noting that all birds, including the Australian Magpie, exhibit high levels of intelligence.
Transcript
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| 0:27.3 | I'm talking about you with Stephen Moss the author and producer his new book is the ten birds that change the world we come to a myth that I grew up with |
| 0:32.2 | everybody else grew up with and the BBC reinforced in 1979 |
| 0:36.8 | 1978 with some spectacular presentations. I watched as a younger |
| 0:41.9 | person. I remember the 20th century. Stephen Moss is with me, the author of the new book, |
| 0:46.8 | Ten Book, Ten Birds that Changed the World. This changed my life, and now he's changed it back again. |
| 0:52.3 | It has to do with the Galapagos islands where i've never been |
| 0:56.2 | but my daughter happily went there and tells me the finches are doing fine however those finches |
| 1:02.7 | and the myth of darwin well i'll tell it quickly because stephen's going to correct the record |
| 1:07.8 | the story i had was that darwin on the voyage of the beagle, arrived |
| 1:14.3 | to the Galapagos and observed taking notes of all the different birds on the different Galapagos |
| 1:20.3 | islands and how they were different. The bills were bigger or smaller. The colors were different. |
| 1:26.7 | And came up with the idea that the reason |
| 1:29.0 | they're different is because they evolve to fit the circumstances, the weather, the food |
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