Download Darwins Dangerous Idea Video Questions with answers

Name:________________________________________________________Period:______
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea Video Questions
While watching the video Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, answer each question in the space provided. Your
instructor may stop the video periodically to allow you to discuss some of the questions and complete your
responses.
It is OK if you do not use complete sentences for some answers, since you may be writing and watching the
video simultaneously.
1.
Approximately when did Darwin’s voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle occur?
1831- 1836
2.
What idea about geologic changes and time did Darwin present and how is this related to evolution?
Darwin presented evidence that the Earth has changed quite dramatically (Example: ancient sea floor up on the
Andes mountain tops) indicated that it must have taken a tremendous amount of time for these changes to occur.
It relates to evolution in that it would mean that the environment around species also changed dramatically
leading to adaptation by the species and allow the time for these dramatic changes seen in the fossil record to
occur.
3.
Darwin and Fitzroy, the Beagle’s captain, disagree about how the various species of finch arrived on
each island of the Galapagos chain. What was Darwin’s idea about how each island came to hold
different species of finch?
That coastal finches from the mainland blew out to them then became isolated and the populations slowly
adapted over time to such things as different food sources.
4.
How were Darwin’s suggestions that species might have evolved first received?
As heresy, against the teaching of the church. Some were excited with idea, but most saw it as a “dangerous
idea”.
5.
Today Darwin is often associated primarily with the finches he discovered on the Galapagos Islands?
Which of his specimens received the greatest attention when her first returned from his voyage on the
Beagle?
The many fossils he brought back including the giant sloth.
6.
Darwin described living things as branches on a “tree of life.” This metaphor is very different from the
earlier notion, which he rejected, of a scala natura, a sort of “Nature’s ladder,” where organisms exist
on a continuum of advancement from the lowest (like worms) to the highest (humans, naturally). What
are the implications of Darwin’s metaphor as opposed to the scala natura?
The branches of the “tree of life” would indicate that all species are related if you go back far enough in our
evolutionary history, including humans and turnips 
7.
How did Darwin think that the kinds of small changes which resulted from natural selection, like finches
with slightly larger beaks, could lead to the evolution of new species (like a fish becoming a frog)? How
was this similar to what Darwin observed with the breeding of domesticated animals like cattle and
dogs?
If humans can influence different traits through artificial selection to exaggerate them over generations, then
Nature too could have a selective process that also could lead to dramatic changes in species.
8.
Why did Darwin think it was sometimes the “ugly ducklings” that were most important for the evolution
of species?
The “ugly duckling” represents a variation of a trait in a population that is well outside the norm. These
variations may actually be selected for if environmental conditions change. Then this seemingly odd variation
may actually become promoted in future generations. Example: long fur in a hot environment. If the
environment become cold, then the long fur becomes an advantage to survive and hence would be more likely
passed on and promoted. If there isn’t a lot of variation, then when environments change dramatically, there is a
greater chance of extinction.
9.
Briefly describe Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection.
Overproduction leads to a struggle of survival.
Variation of traits in a population allow certain traits to be more “fit” that others in certain environments and
more likely to be passed on.
Adaptation to a changing environment occurs in a population over generation of time based on this selective
process leading to changes in the population and the chance for new species to arise.
Natural Selection: Any trait that provides an advantage to being passed on (increasing chances of survival to a
mating age, attracting a mate, increasing the likelihood of offspring surviving and continuing) will be promoted
in a species over time.
10.
Why is it incorrect to say that species have improved of the course of evolution (remember, Darwin
rejected the idea that species are somehow advancing up some sort of evolutionary ladder)? What effect
would an evolutionary biologist say that natural selection has on species?
Natural selection works in random ways. There is no set agenda for organisms to become more complex. Only
adaptations to a changing environment would occur which increased the species likelihood for survival and
passing on their traits. There are still very simple organisms (like bacteria) that are very successful.