During his voyage on the HMS Beagle, Darwin observed the
beaks and behavior of finches. These finches were similar
in some ways to the single finch species that existed on
the mainland of South America. On the Galápagos Islands,
however, there were 13 different species, each with
different beaks and different diets. Later, Darwin
hypothesized that natural selection could explain the
differences in the finch species. Many years later,
Rosemary and Peter Grant of Princeton University began to
test Darwin's hypothesis.p