Happy Darwin Day!
Today marks the 204th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and in celebration of his life and works I’ve dug up 10 weird facts about the man behind the theory of natural selection.
Here they are:
1. Darwin once ate an owl. Darwin was part of the “Gourmet Club” at University of Cambridge, which met once a week to eat animals “not often found in menus.” According to sources, he called the flavor of the owl “indescribable.”
2. Darwin identified as Christian for much of his life. He even studied to become an Anglican clergyman at the University of Cambridge, but later pulled away from the church and described himself as agnostic (not atheist).
3. Darwin was very interested in the study of nipples. He collected case reports of men and women with extra nipples (which he called mammae erraticae) and even suggested that humans may have descended from creatures with more than two mammae. He also wondered why men have nipples. In The Descent of Man, Darwin argued that humans may have once been androgynous, with both sexes having the capacity to lactate (thus making male nipples vestigial organs).
4. Darwin was very concerned with public image. He delayed the publication of On the Origin of Species for more than twenty years because he was nervous about how it would be received.
5. Darwin wasn’t the only person to come up with the theory of evolution. Just before he published On the Origin of Species, he got word that British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace had come up with a similar theory, so he quickly finished and published his work. Scientists with the Linnean Society of London later debated the “who was first” question by examining both men’s publiscations in July 1858. Ultimately, Darwin was given most of the credit for the theory of evolution because he had described it in greater detail.
6. Darwin’s 25th birthday present was a mountain. Yes, you read that right — a mountain! On February 12, 1834, Captain FitzRoy presented Darwin with the ultimate birthday gift — named a mountain after him. Mount Darwin is the highest peak in Tierra del Fuego.
7. Darwin never said anything about “survival of the fittest.” That phrase was actually coined by Herbert Spencer, a philosopher and contemporary of Darwin. In his 1984 book, Principles of Biology, Spencer used the phrase “survival of the fittest” to suggest Darwin’s theory of natural selection extended into other disciplines — including sociology, ethics, and economics.
8. Darwin married his cousin. In The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Darwin methodically wrote out a pro and con list marriage: Pros included companionship (“better than a dog anyhow”) and children, and cons included loss of time and freedom. In the end, he decided “Marry — Marry. Marry Q.E.D” (Q.E.D. is a latin phrase typically put at the end of mathematical proofs to indicate that the proof is complete). Ironically, the man whose entire life work was dedicated to the importance of genetics in natural selection chose to marry his first cousin.
9. Darwin loved Backgammon. Darwin became very ill after his return from South America, and the disease (which was never officially diagnosed) would leave him bed-ridden for long periods of time. Over the years, Darwin developed a strict schedule for playing Backgammon. Every night between 8 and 8:30 PM, he and Emma would play 2 games. Darwin apparently believed the game relieved his symptoms.
10. The last book Darwin published was about earthworms. While Charles Darwin is most remembered for his revolutionary theory of evolution, his theories about earthworms actually drew much more attention during his life. The book, entitled The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on Their Habits, was published in 1881, an sold even better than On the Origin of Species.
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