The Origin of Species Revised March 2018
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The Origin of Species:
The Beak of the Finch Film Guide
Student Handout
NAME_______________________ DATE_________________
This handout supplements the short film The Origin of Species: The Beak of the Finch.
1. Which is the most likely explanation for the presence of 13 different finch species on the Galápagos Islands
today?
a. Many years ago, several different species of birds migrated to the islands and the 13 finch species that
currently live there are the only species that survived.
b. Many years ago, a small population of a single bird species migrated to the islands and evolved into the
13 species that live on the islands today.
c. Each of the 13 species has migrated to the islands at different times over the years.
d. A single bird species migrated to one island at around the time of Charles Darwin’s voyage to the
Galápagos and then migrated to all 13 islands.
2. Different finch species have beaks of different shapes and sizes. These different beak structures are
evidence of
a. different finch species adapting to different environments over many generations.
b. different finch species with different beak structures coming to the Galápagos Islands from the
mainland.
c. different finch populations being evolutionarily related.
d. individual birds changing their beak characteristics so that they could feed efficiently.
3. Examine the phylogenetic tree of the 13 finch species below. Which of the following statements is a correct
interpretation of the phylogenetic tree in the illustration?
a. The sharp-beaked ground finch is more closely related to the small tree finch than either species is to
the cactus finch.
b. The warbler finch is the common ancestor to all the finch species that exist today in the Galápagos
Islands.
c. All the Galápagos finches are more closely related to one another than they are to mainland finch
species.
d. The 13 finch species evolved in sequence; the warbler finch is the oldest species and the small ground
finch is the most recent species to evolve