image: The parasitic pox virus created the large lesion next to the bill of this male medium ground finch on Isla Daphne Major, one of the Galapagos Islands. University of Utah biologists are trying to determine if the finches -- once studied by Charles Darwin, the father of evolution theory -- can withstand invading parasite species like the pox virus and the nest fly. In a new study, they showed the finches develop antibodies specifically targeted at those two parasites. view more
Credit: Jen Koop, University of Utah.