Photo: "Instant" Evolution Seen in Darwin's Finches, Study Says

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The arrival of the large ground finch species on a Galápagos island in 1982 prompted its relative, the medium ground finch (inset), to evolve. Over just 20 years, the smaller species evolved a smaller beak to avoid competition for food, the first time this effect has been observed in action in the wild.

Photographs courtesy B. Rosemary Grant/Science

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