Debunking Evolution - Whale Evolution (Lesson 6b)

Whale Evolution as an Evolutionary Story

Is it just me, or does a 100 pound wolf-like creature turning into a 360 ,000 pound blue whale seem a little hard to believe?

Who's got you covered?

Oh, you got burgers. Oh man, I love you.

Yeah, well I figured since we're going to be studying anyways.

Oh yeah, pretty much. Alright, let's see what you got here. We got the old macaroni fries.

We got some burgers!

Silverware? For burgers?

I don't know, the girl who was giving all this stuff out was like a zombie.

So, you know what's going to be on this test, right?

Yeah, whale evolution. Can you imagine what it would take for a wolf-like creature to turn into a whale? The little tail would have to turn into a gigantic fluke, and the forelimbs would have to turn into flippers.

They would need to evolve a brand new respiratory system. I mean, that's not easy. And then they would have to evolve a blowhole. And then their teeth would have to evolve into baleen. And that's not all.

Way too many changes that would have to be made.

Including growing several hundred times bigger.

Yeah, like Aunt Madge during Christmas.

Yeah, so we're going to have to study. I mean, if we don't, this test is going to be an epic fail.

Evolutionary Jeopardy and the Whale Ancestry Chart

Hey, you know what I'm thinking?

That we're really living on a snowflake in Whoville.

No.

But cramming all these facts into our heads makes me feel like we're some sort of contestants on Jeopardy.

Welcome to Evolutionary Jeopardy,.

The game where you never know how things will turn out. Jane, pick your category.

I'm going to go for whale of a tail for 500.

Okay. This category focuses on different animals that supposedly evolved into modern whales. From the high school biology textbook, we see the first animal believed to begin evolving into whales. It says, Masonicids are one hypothesized link between modern whales and certain hoofed animals.

Oh, what is the imagined category of animals that includes sheep, camels, pigs, cows, deer, animals thought to be the possible ancestors of whales?

That is correct!

Wait, the entire evolutionary ancestry of whales is based on an imaginary creature?

Yeah.

That's true. Jane?

Okay, let's see here. Oh, I know. I'm going to go with howling for the sea for 1 ,000.

Your biology textbook also shows a diagram of a whale evolving. It depicts the next creature in the lineup, which was discovered in the 1980s. They only discovered partial fragments of the wolf-like skull, and since they didn't have the rest of the body, they imagined that it was an intermediate between a land animal and a whale.

And textbooks included illustrations of it swimming in the ocean. But then more fossils were discovered showing it to be nothing more than a land animal, yet it still appears in your textbook as an ancestor of the whale.

Yes, Jane?

Oh, there was a fly on my buzzer.

Sorry, that was not stated as a question. John?

What is Pakicetus?

Correct!

Your pick, John.

Same category.

It's time for the Daily Double.

If you answer this right, John, you'll get double the amount. There are only two fossils ever found of this next creature on your chart. In your biology textbook, it says, the limb structure of this creature called walking whale suggests that these animals could both swim in shallow water and walk on land.

However, it appears to be nothing more than a land animal. In other words, it was defined as a walking whale. Not because it had a whale's tail or flippers or a blowhole, but simply because they believed it to be.

In fact, they didn't even find the part of the skull that would have a blowhole. But they still add a blowhole in museum drawings. And since it was a land animal with four legs, it was then called a walking whale.

What is Ambulocetus?

You are correct!

Wow, that's some serious circular reasoning.

John.

I'll go with whale of the tail for $3 ,000.

This creature is often depicted in museum and textbooks with a tail fluke. However, they never found the fossil bones for their tail. Also, this creature was often portrayed with front flippers until they found fossils to show it actually had front legs.

What is Rhodocetus?

Correct!

Hey!

This is my thought bubble.

Who cares?

Moving on. This creature seems to be nothing more than an extinct sea creature. What appears to be leftover legs from evolution actually turns out to be claspers used during mating season. This is true in many current species of whales.

What is Basilosaurus?

Yes!

Last one. This creature appears to be nothing more than an extinct whale.

John.

What is Durodon?

Excellent!

And the last two remaining names, Mysticetes and Odontocetes, are just modern whales, baleen and toothed whales respectively. Well, John, it looks like you've won!

Woo!

You've won a grand prize.

It's a...

New car?

No!

A cold hamburger!

What?

A cold hamburger?

Cold hamburger, John. A cold hamburger.

Hamburger John.

John! Hello? John!

Your burger's getting cold.

Designed for Their Kind, Not Evolved by Chance

What's up with the silverware? Your perfectionism kicking in again? No.

No, these are arranged in an evolutionary story. See, we start with a knife that eventually evolves around end to become a spoon. And then, over time, some notches form into it and it becomes a spork.

And eventually, a fork.

I believe a spork may actually be a transitional fossil. It's just not right.

I know what you mean. You can't spear a salad and soup just... Drizzles through.

Well, anyway, I think your problem is that each of these utensils is designed for a very specific purpose.

Exactly.

And just like the world chart, each of these animals were created by God to be exactly what it is. And Genesis 121 says, So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

So, when you line up a theoretical ancestor, a couple of extinct land animals, an extinct sea creature, an extinct whale, and a couple of modern whales, you can tell a pretty good story about how a 100-pound wolf-like creature turned into a 360 ,000-pound blue whale.

But don't make it true.

True.

Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?