Under these drastically changing conditions, the struggle to survive favored the larger birds with deep, strong beaks for opening the hard seeds. Smaller finches with less-powerful beaks perished.

For example, the cactus finch has a long beak that reaches into blossoms, the ground finch has a short beak adapted for eating seeds buried under the soil, and the tree finch has a parrot-shaped ...

Caption Darwin noted how different finches from the Galapagos Island developed different kinds of beaks, based on the food that they specialized in eating. Later studies showed how rapid ...

They consult genetic scripture. Consider, for instance, the famous finches of the Galápagos. Darwin could see that their beaks were variously shaped—some broad and deep, others elongated ...

They drink the blood of larger birds, such as the Nazca and red-footed boobies, to supplement their diet when food is scarce ...

The different finch species on the islands are closely related to each other, but show wide variations in beak and body size and feeding behaviour. In particular, changes to the size and shape of the ...

The innovative key to this discovery? The ghosts of future finches. The new study shows that beak-driven changes to songs themselves can impact species recognition, and thus drive the separation ...