Donate A Darwin - The Galapagos Conservation Trust's campaign to help save the archipelago's Floreana Mockingbird - was launched this afternoon with the help of the Bank of England's Chief Cashier, Andrew Bailey. Andrew, whose name appears on the Bank of England's banknotes, presented Charles Darwin's great, great granddaughter, Sarah Darwin and the Galapagos Conservation Trust's Chief Executive, Toni Darton, with the bank's own "Darwin", an outsize version of its £10 banknote, all of which have Charles Darwin's face on the reverse.
The Donate A Darwin appeal aims to encourage members of the public to donate "Darwins" - £10 and multiples of £10 - to help save the bird that inspired Darwin's theory of evolution as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.
According to Sarah Darwin: "Launching the appeal with a £10 "Darwin" at the Bank of England was brilliant. My great, great grandfather would really have appreciated how the design of banknotes has evolved to include him and how it could now help to save the bird that inspired him".
Toni Darton commented: "The Floreana Mockingbird is on the edge of extinction. It will be a huge tragedy if this bird of such scientific importance is allowed to die out. Our Donate A Darwin campaign is urgently needed to help save this iconic species and its native island of Floreana - one of the islands Darwin visited in Galapagos".
