24 December 2006 Filed in:
The Voyage of the BeagleThere is a certain irony in celebrating Christmas if one is an unabashed Darwinist. I wonder if Richard Dawkins gives Christmas gifts? Or receives them, even?
Charles Darwin acknowledged Christmas. While in New Zealand he attended a church service on Christmas Day 1835 in Pahia, where the service, somewhat ahead of its time, was in both English and Maori. Read More...Tags:Merry Christmas, Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, HMS Beagle, Reverend Williams, Pahia, New Zealand, Cannibalism, Richard Dawkins
Darwin came to New Zealand – the far north – but he didn’t stay long and he didn’t like it. I’m trying to imagine what he may have experienced had he wandered to the South Island and the rugged mountains of the Southern Alps. Unlike the Andes in South America, he would have observed that these were very young mountains, perhaps 5 to 7 million years old. But I think what he would have noticed most – at least it was what I noticed most when I tried to put myself in his shoes – would have been the preponderance of white flowers and butterflies. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Adaptation, White apline flowers, White butterflies, Pollination, New Zealand, Southern Alps
