In Darwin’s Recapitulation and conclusion, he points to phenomena in nature that can simply not be explained by any theory of creation or explanation by man. While Darwin can only argue his theory based on the research and logic of him and his fellow naturalists, his evidence must have been gripping even to devout religious subjects who denied science in its entirety. One of Darwin’s arguments addresses the geometric ratio of reproduction within each species and how the numbers of each species can only continue to increase as long as they diversify. The theory of evolution through natural selection can explain, to quote On The Origin of Species, “How strange it is, that a bird, under the form of woodpecker, should have been created to prey on insects on the ground; that upland geese, which never or rarely swim, should have been created with webbed feet” and it goes on…(Quammen 492) Darwin notes that by the fact that species aim to grow their gene pool, and by the logic of natural selection, these seemingly strange bird mutations “cease to amaze us or perhaps might even have been anticipated.” (Quammen 493)
Most convincing to me from both Darwin’s explanations and other studies on the evolution of plants and animals is that we can clearly create records of species that have lived throughout different periods of Earth’s history. In order for these species to have continued to exist, it is evident that they must have undergone slow yet definite physical changes in order to continue reproducing on this planet. Had God created animals solely for the environment he created, it is obvious that they would not exist here today. Evolution by natural selection is a clear and concise explanation for the characteristics exhibited by certain plants and animals on our Earth for even those who might reject other scientific explanations of the natural world and.