"In Darwin's Footsteps" Blog

"In Darwin's Footsteps" by Jonathan Weiner fooled me in terms of its content. Weiner makes a case for the work of the Grants (Peter and Rosemary). The essay follows a chronological order that makes the reader realize the true significance of the Grants. The Grants were able to make their groundbreaking discoveries because of two variables-- the island and Big Bird.
Daphne Major served as the island that would propel the Grants to their finest discoveries. The island was different from the Galapogas Islands, where Darwin did his research, in several ways. The Galapogas Islands were many and vast. Daphne Major was as Weiner puts it best, "big enough to support many hundreds of finches, but small enough that the Grants and their students and assistants could band and recognize and measure almost every bird." This aspect was key in their many discoveries, as their time was also much more extended from Darwin's. Darwin spent only five weeks in the Galapogas Islands, enough time for plenty of discoveries, but not a lifetime's worth. The Grant's have been in close contact with the Daphne Major since 1973. Time was also on their side, which proved to be pivotal because of the true power of evolution. Darwin was the first to bring forth many of these ideas of evolution and survival of the fittest, but he failed to entirely recognize the power of evolution. This is where the Grants surfaced on their island as real physical changes occurred over the generations of birds. The Grants were able to refine these ideas when a single hybrid finch arrived on the island, Big Bird as they called him.
This bird had several physical advantages over the average finches on the island. The author sums up his superiority best when he states, " Big Bird became a patriarch. He lived 13 years, a long time for one of Darwin's finches. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all sang his song, and they were clannish." The population flourished over the years as the new birds became acclimated to Daphne Major. The Grants were present this whole time on this little island that allowed tremendous research to be done. The author states about the Grant's success, "The Grants have won just about every award in their field, including the prestigious 2009 Kyoto Prize in Basic Science." Weiner adds a snippet in the article after this that shows their is no category for evolution for the Nobel Prize. This tugs at the assumption that Weiner believes they would have won this award as well.
The case for the Grant's work surely presents itself greatly, even in comparison to the work of Darwin. The island and Big Bird proved to be two components that led the Grants to a world of international recognition. Darwin has universal recognition, but the work of the Grants may well be on its way to that very same title.