Darwin's finches are an excellent example of

Adaptive radiation represents evolution of new forms in several directions from the common ancestral type. In 1831, Darwin got an opportunity to travel by HMS Beagle for a voyage of world exploration. Beagle sailed to the Galapagos Islands, here Darwin found a living laboratory of evolution. The common birds of Galapagos Islands, the finches were markedly different from the finches of main land. The closely related species of finches had beaks of different shapes and sizes and adapted for feeding on completely different diet showing adaptive radiation. The transitional fossil forms, which show characteristic of two different groups of living animals are called connecting links, e.g., Archaeopteryx, Seymouria, etc.