But Darwin's uncle was able to persuade him not only to let his son go, but also support him financially.ĭarwin and FitzRoy got together well, but later Darwin found out that he almost didn't get picked for the voyage. The professors at Cambridge recommended then 22-years old Charles Darwin for the trip.Īt first, Charles' father Robert objected to the appointment - afterĪll, such a voyage would take years and would get in the way of him being a clergyman. So FitzRoy asked his superiors for a well-educated and scientific gentleman companion to come along as an unpaid naturalist whom he could treat as an equal. The Captain of HMS Beagle, Robert FitzRoy, was about to embark on a survey expedition to South America, but he was afraid of the stress and loneliness of such a voyage (indeed, they have driven the previous captain of the ship to commit suicide). Darwin's Nose Almost Cost Him The Voyage on the Beagle So he decided to study divinity instead and become a rural cleric, which would fit his hobby of being a naturalist just fine Darwin Wanted to Be a Doctor, But He Couldn't Stand the Sight ofĭarwin attended Edinburgh University in hopes of becoming a physician like his father, but soon abandoned the idea because he couldn't stand the sight of blood. Sources: Darwin's Dinner at Quite Interesting | The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin by Charles and Francis DarwinĢ. He liked it so much he loaded up 48 of them aboard the Beagle, to be eaten on the journey back! In the Galapagos, Darwin ate iguanas and giant tortoises. He sent back the uneaten parts to the Zoological Society in London, which named the bird Rhea darwinii after him! Actually, Darwin had been looking for this particular species of Rhea, only to find that he had been eating one all along. In Patagonia, South America, Darwin ate a puma (it tasted like veal) and an ostrich-like bird called a Rhea. During the voyage of the Beagle, he ate armadillos and agoutis (the rodents were "best meat I ever tasted," he said). His zeal for weird food, however, broke down when he tried an old brown owl, which he found "indescribable."īut that one episode didn't end Darwin's weird gastronomic proclivities. While he was at Cambridge University, Darwin joined the "Gourmet Club," which met once a week to eat animals not often found in menus, like hawk and bittern (a type of wading bird in the heron family). The difference between Darwin and the rest of us is that he actually ate 'em! So when he saw strange animals, he often wondered what they would taste like. Sure he was curious about nature and all that science stuff, but he's also a guy. Darwin Once Ate an Owlĭarwin was an inquisitive man. Everyone knows about Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection, but did you know that he once ate an owl, just for kicks? Or that he almost didn't make it aboard HMS Beagle because of the shape of his nose? Behold Neatorama's 10 Fun Facts About Charles Darwin: 1.
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