In 1835, during a 5-week period, the HMS Beagle visited the Galapagos Islands where Darwin studied the flora and fauna. His observations included the finches now known as Darwin 's finches . The islands are home to 13 species of finch all of which have adapted to their habitat and the size and shape of their bills reflect their specializations. Darwin noted the similarities and differences in his journal and organized the finches as part of his collection.

His observations later brought him to conclude that flora and fauna evolve over time through a process of natural selection. Darwin spent the next 20 years of his life gathering supporting evidence and in 1859 he published On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. In 1959, for the 100-year celebration of the publishing of Darwin 's first book, the Charles Darwin Foundation and Galapagos National Park were created. A few years later the Charles Darwin Research Station with its research vessel the Beagle was established to inform the world about Darwin 's theories and the Galapagos Islands as Darwin 's Laboratory in Evolution.