Darwin is the first of the evolutionary biologists, the originator of the concept of natural selection.

He came to understand that any population consists of individuals that are all slightly different from one another.  Those individuals having a variation that gives them an advantage in staying alive long enough to successfully reproduce are the ones that pass on their traits more frequently to the next generation.  Subsequently, their traits become more common and the population evolves. 

The Galápagos finches provide an excellent example of this process.  For instance, among the birds that ended up in arid environments, the ones with beaks that were better suited for eating cactus got more food.  As a result, they were in better condition to mate.  In a very real sense, nature selected the best adapted varieties to survive and to reproduce.  This process has come to be known as natural selection.

So now it's relevance to banding? In a world of diverse personalities, qualities and skills it follows that a big variety of cultures, traditions and skills develop. This further feeds into a wide range of activities and interests. Those activities which have have the traits to be successful survive and those that don't become fads of a generation. Now banding, in general, has many very positive traits. Music is an international language which appeals to many at heart-felt level. The roots of banding were formed around social and community links and we even have the competitive nature of contesting to appeal to those animal instincts. But as societies develop on a general scale, cultures, attitudes, priorities and skills all change to follow. If an activity is going to survive it needs to adapt with these changes. If we were to take a lesson from natural selection, perhaps society is calling for a dissection of the core elements of banding- picking out those traits we need to survive and leaving behind the qualities that are keeping holding us back.

To further take a lesson from evolution. The workings of one of Darwin 's predecessors - Lamarck comes to mind. Lamarck had a similar line of thought in terms of evolution to Darwin. But he did have a different view on how these 'survival changes' came about. Back to the Galápagos finches, Darwin theorized that some of the birds already had positive traits thus the environment selected these animals to survive. Lamarck believed that the environment physically altered the shape of individual's beaks and that these acquired changes were then inherited in the next generation. Although in biological terms, this is now believed to be untrue, in the theories of banding evolution his line of thought could prove very useful. Banding may not have all traits it needs to survive! Unlike the birds we have the advantage of responding to our environmental needs. Perhaps this banding generation should be looking, not only at what positive characteristics we do have, but in how we can adapt our world to the ever-developing society we live in.

To some, banders might be a dying breed, but if it is survival of the fittest I know which end of the evolutionary scale I want to be!

Coming soon instalment 2: Social acceptance and the theory of evolution: are we treading the same path?