Quick question for evolutionists

notto said:

Nope, I was serious. Tortoise populations that found themselves in environments on islands where their food source came from taller plants had a distinctive notch in their shell that would allow them to get at the higher food. This would have occured over many generations as competition for food was fierce and only the tortoises that could get at the higher plants would survive to pass on their makup to the next generation. Compare the following two pictures.




The same type of thing was observed in finches depending on if the diet on the island they where on consisted of small, hard to get seeds or larger hard to crack seeds.



I'm guessing that based on your questions and interest, you might enjoy reading Origins by Darwin. He discusses these types of changes related to pigeons, birds, tortoises, bees, and other animals and the book, although a little dry at times, is written in a way that makes it easy to understand. It also discusses geography, plants, fossils. You can get a taste of it online but if you decide to read it, you should pick it up in print.
You might start with Chapter 3 which deals with the 'Struggle for Existence'
http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/chapter-03.html

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