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Charles Darwin’s discovery of natural selection was influenced by ideas from earlier scientists. Their work helped him understand how species change over time.
One of the earliest ideas came from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who proposed that organisms acquire traits during their lifetime and pass them to their offspring.
For example, Lamarck believed giraffes stretched their necks to reach high leaves, and over generations, their calves inherited longer necks. Although this idea wasn’t entirely correct, it got scientists thinking about how species change.
Darwin was also influenced by Charles Lyell, a geologist who popularized that Earth changes slowly over time. Darwin applied this idea to living things, realizing they might also change gradually.
Later, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace developed a similar theory after studying wildlife in South America. The two presented their ideas together, but Darwin's extensive evidence made him closely associated with the theory.
When Darwin visited the Galápagos Islands, he observed finches with different beaks adapted to their food sources. Combining these ideas, he concluded that species evolve as nature selects the best traits for survival.
