| Darwin had a heart condition that almost kept him from his voyage on the
Beagle. Although many cures were tried none of them worked on Charles’s terrible
heart condition. Strangely, during and right after college, Charles enjoyed hunting and
other things more than science. On the Beagles voyage the crew gave Darwin a nickname,
they called him "Mr. Flycatcher." They probably called him this because he was
always out catching different bugs. They possibly called him that because he would always
come in with a low tide smell and some flies behind him. While Darwin was in Chile he encountered an earthquake and a tidal wave in the same day. Some time during the Beagle’s voyage at dinner Charles asked what this was that he was eating. One of the crew mats described the bird they caught and were now eating. Darwin figured out boy the description of the crewmate that they had been eating a near extinct ostrich! The only parts of the body he a was able to salvage was the head, the legs, wings and feathers. The bird was named the Reah Darwin When Darwin came back from his voyage on the HMS Beagle his family said that he a had learned so many things the shape of his head had changed. At the end of his life Charles did something very unusual, he wrote a book on earthworms. |