Battle of the Beaks!

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Published: Thursday, 15 February 2024 17:24

Written by Year Six

In our Evolution and Inheritance unit for science this term we have been learning about Natural Selection.  We learnt about Charles Darwin's discovery of how finches have different shaped beaks on the different islands of the Galapagos.  He found that the finches' beaks had adapted over time to suit the available food source on their particular island.  The birds with the best beaks to access the food available in their environment would be stronger and therefore pass on this favourable adaptation to their offspring until that beak type dominated on their island - natural selection - the survival of the fittest.  The children conducted their own experiment to simulate what Darwin found and we compared our results.

We have also been looking at how the Peppered Moth had to evolve due to the Industrial revolution.  Natural selection meant that the darker moths were surviving whilst the white ones were eaten by predators as they were no longer able to camouflage against the trees.  After learning about this, we simulated this in the classroom with moths made from black paper and newspaper.