Download Natural Selection Script (short)

Script Natural Selection version 15 as recorded.
Black text: Narrator
Blue text: Charles Darwin
Red text: Captain Fitzroy (recommendation: do not translate this)
Purple text: Queen Victoria (recommendation: do not translate this)
Green text: Harrison Schmitt Apollo 17 astronaut (recommendation: do not translate this)
------------------Coelacanth-----------00:17
Deep down along the East African coast, hidden in underwater caves, we find the
Coelacanths, fish from another time.
00:27
These 400 million year old living fossils were once thought to have become extinct along
with the dinosaurs.
00:37
Possibly the sole remaining representative of a family of fleshy finned fish.
00:43
Perhaps the ancestors of amphibians that started to roam on land.
------------------Opening Dover --------02:18
When we look at the World around us, we can tell it has not always been the same.
02:23
The top of a cliff was once the bottom of the sea.
02:27
Fossilized shells of long gone ocean creatures can be found right here.
02:32
Since the Earth was formed many exciting changes have occurred.
02:37
The key is time.
02:40
The long geological history of the Earth dwarfs our own human history.
…..
03:10
In the 19th century in Victorian times people had a different perception of the Natural World
around them.
03:18
Most people stuck to the conventional belief that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.
03:24
And is populated by species that are the same today as they were when originally made,
during the single week in which the Creator formed the entire Universe.
03:37
In 1842 Queen Victoria had seen the Orang-Utan in London zoo.
03:42
She was less than amused:
03:45
‘The OrangUtan is too wonderful … he is frightfully and painfully and disagreeably human’
03:55
Around the same time fossils of large extinct dinosaurs were gradually being unearthed and
described.
04:04
Even then scientists recognized that extinction had been a common occurrence in the
history of life.
04:10
But how could new species appear to replace those lost through extinction ?
04:15
It was time for someone to come forth with a naturalist explanation of : “this mystery of
mysteries”….
05:57
Welcome to Down House, the home of Charles Robert Darwin during the last 40 years of his
life.
05:07
It was here where Darwin wrote his famous book: On the Origin of Species by means of
Natural Selection.
05:16
The book that challenged a Worldview that had been taught for centuries.
----- Darwin speaking to the audience in the study of Down House ----------05:25
“I am delighted by your visit and humbled that you are here to learn about the ideas I had
during my blessed youth”.
05:35
“I didn’t enjoy or do well at school but no pursuit gave me so much pleasure as collecting
beetles”.
05:42
“My father worried that I would end up being a disgrace to myself and the family”.
05:47
“But when I was only 22 years old in 1831 I was invited to sail as a naturalist on board the
HMS Beagle, whose mission was to circumnavigate the World”.
06:01
“At first my father opposed it, but in the end he relented, and I accepted the post”.
06:09
“The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has
determined my whole career”.
------ HMS Beagle -------------------------
-------- Patagonia-------------------------08:35
The primary mission of the Beagle was to chart poorly known stretches of the South
American Coastline.
08:42
Darwin was not a hired biologist but had to pay for his own trip as a gentleman-companion to
captain Fitzroy.
08:50
While the ship’s crew surveyed the coast, Darwin spent most of his time on shore, observing
and collecting thousands of specimens from the wide diversity of exotic plants and animals.
09:04
Darwin’s life now had purpose. He would follow his heart and become a scientist.
09:12
He was filled with excitement as from an early age he had a passion for nature.
----- Albatross --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darwin’s voice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------09:46
“I do not believe that anyone could have shown more zeal for the most holy cause than I did
for shooting birds”.
----Night shots Beagle ------------------------------------------------------------------------09:59
Captain Fitzroy had given Darwin a new book called principles of Geology by Lyell a
geologist.
10:06
Lyell wrote that the Earth had been formed not in a few days but over a long period of time
by natural processes such as volcanoes and earthquakes
10:18
Darwin was fascinated !
------------------Earth Quake ------------------10:23
Then on February 20th 1835 Charles Darwin experienced an earthquake himself in
Valparaiso, Chili.
10:39
The nearby town of Concepcion was ruined by the Earthquake.
10:44
It was one of the most interesting spectacles he had seen since leaving England.
------------------Shells pushed above water ---10:54
At the same time captain Fitzroy found beds of mussel shells still sticking to the rocks, way
above high water mark as a result of the Earthquake.
------------------ Andes --------------------------11:08
Darwin found fossilized shells high on the tops of the Andes. Could mountains have been
formed by many many earthquakes over a long period of time ?
---------------- Milky Way ----------------------11:23
Darwin was sure Lyell was right. Natural Forces like volcanoes and earth quakes HAD
changed the Earth in the past and the Earth is STILL changing today!
----------------- Flight Galapagos--------------11:46
In 1835 the Beagle set sail for the Galapagos archipelago.
11:52
Islands of relatively recent volcanic origin that lie on the equator quite a way west of the
South American coast.
12:01
Darwin wrote to his sister: “I am very anxious to see the Galapagos Islands, I think both the
Geology & Zoology cannot fail to be very interesting.”
12:12
This would turn out to be a huge understatement.
-------- Rowing boat ------------------------12:41
Darwin found the strangest creatures that seemed highly adapted to their habitat and
showed similarities with creatures of the South American mainland
-------- Marine Iguanas --------------------12:50
Marine Iguana’s that feed on algae from rocks along the coastline.
12:58
Darwin wrote: “The black lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large most disgusting
clumsy lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl & seek their
prey from the sea.”
13:28
He observed animal behaviors that he had never seen before.
------- Blue footed booby ----------------------
13:34
The blue footed booby waves and shakes his blue webbed feet to give the females a thrill.
13:41
These are his best foot lifting efforts.
-------------- Galapagos Tortoises -----------------13:51
Higher up on the slopes of the volcanos, Giant Tortoises graze.
13:58
Darwin was told by the locals that one could tell which island a tortoise came from by looking
at it’s shell.
14:05
It took a while before he grasped the significance of this news.
14:12
Most of the animal species on the Galapagos live nowhere else in the World.
--------- Flightless cormorant --------------------------------------------------------------14:18
Like this flightless cormorant, ……..
14:26
Darwin asked himself: Why did God create birds with non functional wings ?
(captain Fitzroy reading red text)
14:38
“We can allow planets and the sun to be governed by natural laws, …….but the smallest
insect, ……………we wish to be created at once by special act”.
14:54
“During the voyage of the Beagle I had been deeply impressed by the Galapagos
archipelago and the manner in which species differ slightly on each island”.
15:11
“The natural barriers of Islands seemed to be a vital ingredient in the origins of new
species”.
------ garden -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------15:22
In order to make a solid case for evolution, he needed to explain how evolution happens.
15:30
He wondered: If the World has changed so much during its long geological history, then
perhaps all living creatures have somehow gradually adapted to fit in with the slowly
changing environment, otherwise they would have become extinct.
15:46
The survival of life on Earth can only be explained by the idea that unsuccessful species are
replaced.
15:55
There must be a natural law that explains how new species replace the old ones.
16:26
Less then two years after arriving home, Darwin found his mystery of mysteries, and named
it : Natural selection.
16:38
Let’s have a look at how it works:
------- cardboard figures explanation 1 --------------------------16:44
On this island live two individuals of the same species.
16:48
A smaller one and a larger one. Both can happily survive by eating grass and procreating.
16:56
Then by chance….. a geological barrier divides the group in two.
17:03
The environment on the left becomes drier. Food becomes increasingly scarce. The larger
individual on the left dies because it needs more food than the smaller one.
17:15
Very soon the population on the left of the island only has small individuals while on the right
there are only large ones.
------ iguanas adrift --------------------------------------------------------
17:45
Sometimes species can bridge an existing geological barrier themselves.
17:50
Iguanas from the South American mainland might be cast adrift perhaps due to a tsunami.
18:02
Clinging to a tree for weeks they could cross the pacific and only if they are very very lucky,
land on an island.
18:13
The new environment selects very different traits, resulting -after many generations- in a
very different Iguana.
18:23
Let’s look at another example:
----------- cardboard figures explanation 2 ------------------18:25
One species has developed spines to protect itself against a predator.
18:31
A geological barrier means that the predator can only reach the individuals on the left.
Variation in the offspring cause some individuals to have larger spines, some smaller. The
ones with the smaller spines get eaten first.
18:49
Without a predator on the right side there is no pressure to keep the spines.
18:54
And in nature: if you don’t use it you lose it.
18:59
Little changes like these can accumulate into major changes, creating new species that can
no longer reproduce with the original ones.
------ Blind cave fish -------------------------------------------------------19:15
These blind cave fish have no eyes. They originate from deep caves in Mexico, where the
lack of light and predators made eyes unnecessary. Instead they find their way around by
means of a highly sensitive organ which senses vibrations in the water.
-------- Peacock ---------------------------------------------------------------------19:40
Natural Selection WORKS - because more individuals are produced than the environment
can support.
19:48
This leads to a struggle for existence among the individuals of a population.
19:53
These individuals vary in their traits.
19:59
Nature selects those with the traits that best fit the current environment and passes them on
to future generations.
20:08
THAT is survival of the fittest.
------------- Tree of Life ---------------------------20:20
But where do we fit in, in the story of natural selection ?
20:24
Are we the crown of evolution? No, we have a more modest position.
20:29
We are just one of the many species on the tree of life.
20:36
This majestic family tree unites all species that ever lived on this planet.
…
20:42
It never stops growing producing only intermediates and never an end product.
…..
21:24
There is an unbroken thread that stretches from species that are alive today to the last
common ancestor of all life on Earth.
21:32
The origins of life, cannot be explained by evolution, but almost everything else that ever
happened since..... CAN.
-------- macro evolution scene Darwin speaking at end --------------------------------------24:58
We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities …..
still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
--------- Darwin speaking to audience in hallway----------------------------------------25:15
“For many years I kept my secret species theory right here in this cupboard and did not dare
to publish”.
25:24
“Until I received a letter from a naturalist colleague named Wallace.
He independently proposed the theory of Natural Selection himself”.
24:35
“We published our essays together and then I hasted to finish my book “On the origin of
species by means of natural selection”.
25:45
“It was like confessing a murder !”.
------ Hammer Head Sharks ----------26:04
What Charles Darwin glimpsed nearly two centuries ago is now the foundation of biology.
26:11
Evolution by Natural Selection has changed our perception of our place in nature for ever.
26:18
It just needed someone with a love for nature and an open mind to witness the role islands
play in shaping life.
------- end island scene -------------------------------------------------------------------27:18
Darwin’s 'mystery of mysteries' is an eloquent and grand explanation that reveals to us that
we are united with every other species on this marvelous planet.
…….
27:39
A planet that is an island of its own.
27:43
Shaping every living thing on it.
27:48
Because this planet is not made for us, we are made for this planet!
……
(Harrison Schmitt Apollo 17 original recording)
28:02
This valley has seen mankind complete its first evolutionary steps into the Universe, leaving
the planet Earth and going forward into the Universe.
(Darwin speaking)
28:26
And if we ever find live beyond Earth among the billions of planets and moons orbiting the
stars in our Universe, then it almost certainly will have to have had evolved by means of
Natural Selection.