Name:
Date:
3.Sub Charles Darwin Reading
The Voyage of the Beagle
In 1831, when Darwin was just 22 years
old, he set sail on a scientific expedition on
a ship called the Her Majesty’s Ship
(HMS) Beagle. He was the naturalist on
the voyage. As a naturalist, it was his job to
observe and collect specimens of plants,
animals, rocks, and fossils wherever the
expedition went ashore.
Darwin was fascinated by nature, so he
loved his job on the Beagle. He spent more
than 3 years of the 5-year trip exploring
nature on distant continents and islands.
Darwin’s Observations
During the long voyage, Darwin made
many observations that helped him form
his theory of evolution. For example:
1. He visited tropical rainforests and other
new habitats where he saw many plants
and animals he had never seen before. This
impressed him with the great diversity of
life. Darwin was impressed because there
were so many different animals.
2. He experienced an earthquake that lifted
the ocean floor 2.7 meters (9 feet) above
sea level. He also found rocks containing
fossil seashells in mountains high above
sea level. These observations suggested
that continents and oceans had changed a
lot over time and continue to change in
today. The mountains that had seashells
inside them must have been underwater at
one point in time.
3. He visited rock ledges that had clearly
once been beaches that had slowly built up
over time. This suggested that slow, steady
processes also change Earth’s surface
because the land transformed from beaches
to rock ledges.
4. He dug up fossils of gigantic extinct
mammals, such as the ground sloth. This
was hard evidence that organisms looked
very different in the past. It suggested that
living things — like Earth’s surface —
change over time.
The Galápagos Islands
Period:
1. How old was Darwin when the Voyage of the Beagle began?
2. What was Darwin’s role on the Beagle and were his responsibilities?
Charles Darwin was the _____________________________ on the ship. His job was to
3. Why did Darwin love his job on the Beagle?
Darwin loved his job on the Beagle because
4. Why did the tropical rainforests and other new habitats impress him?
Darwin was impressed by the tropical rainforests and other new habitats because
5. How could there be sea shells buried in mountains above sea level?
Sea shells could be buried in mountains because
6. What did the rock ledges that were built up from beaches suggest?
The rock ledges that were built up from beaches suggested that
7. What hard evidence did gigantic mammal fossils like the ground sloth provide?
Gigantic mammal fossils like the ground sloth provided
Name:
Date:
Period:
3.Sub Charles Darwin Reading
8. What were the Galápagos Islands?
Darwin’s most important observations
The Galápagos islands were a group of
were made on the Galápagos Islands. This
is a group of 16 small volcanic islands 966
kilometers (600 miles) off the west coast of
South America. Individual Galápagos
9. What important ways are the Galápagos islands different from one another?
Islands are different from one another in
The important ways that the Galápagos islands were different from one another was
important ways. Some are rocky and dry.
Others have better soil and more rainfall.
Each island had a different habitat, or
living environment based on the climate,
10. Each island had a different habitat. What is a habitat?
soil, and plant life.
A habitat is
Darwin noticed that the plants and animals
on the different islands were also different.
For example, the giant tortoises on one
11. What did Darwin notice about the plants and animals on the different islands?
island had saddle-shaped shells, while
Darwin noticed that the plants and animals on the different islands were
those on another island had dome-shaped
shells. People who lived on the islands
could even tell the island a turtle came
12. What could the people who lived on the islands tell about the turtles using what
from by its shell. This started Darwin
information?
thinking about the origin of species. He
The people who lived on the islands could tell
wondered how each island came to have its
own type of tortoise
1. Which of Darwin’s Observations are most interesting to you?
I find Darwin’s observations about _______________________________________________________
most interesting because
2. Darwin found seashells in tall mountains way above the ocean. How could sea
creatures that cannot walk be buried high in a mountain?
Sea creatures that cannot walk could be buried high in a mountain because
3. Why do you think the plants and animals on the different islands were different?
(think about what the reading said about the different islands)
The plants and animals on the different islands were different because