humpback whale Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

June 6, 2023June 1, 2023

Convergent Evolution and Carcinization

When unrelated species of animals or plants have common features, evolutionary biologists call it “convergent evolution.” There are many examples, such as:
* Dolphins and bats use echolocation to find food.
* Titan arum and rafflesia plants use putrid odor to attract pollinators.
* Nightingales and humpback whales sing similar songs just for beauty.

Those are only a few of the vast number of examples that scientists explain as convergent evolution. You can probably think of others. For example, bats, birds, and insects all have wings, but they are not related. In addition, unrelated venomous or poisonous creatures often wear bright colors as a warning, for example, snakes, frogs, and insects. Usually, the convergent features of various animals and plants serve an obvious purpose for the species’ survival.

Perhaps the most repeated convergence appears in the crab-like body shape. A crab has a flat, rounded shell and a tail that tucks under its body. Evolutionary biologists say that body plan has “evolved” at least five times. Scientists even have a name for this phenomenon. They call it “carcinization,” but they can only guess why it happened.

The result of carcinization is that many unrelated crustaceans resemble crabs. As a result, we often call them crabs even though they are not true crabs. A familiar example is the so-called king crab. Crab-shaped animals come in a wide range of sizes and live in various habitats, from the oceans to the mountains. So, with these creatures living in diverse ecosystems, scientists have difficulty explaining why they evolved the same body plan. Some suggestions include the tucked-under tail providing greater safety from predators or the body shape allowing them to move sideways.

We have a suggestion of why the crab shape, or carcinization, shows up in so many different crustaceans. Rather than convergent evolution, the common traits can be explained by a common Creator. That would explain why these creatures have the DNA building blocks for crabbiness – oops, I mean crab body shape.

April 5, 2022April 4, 2022

The Blessing of Beauty

Yesterday, we talked about the problem of beauty. The question is: “How could natural selection acting on random mutations create beauty which seems to have no survival value?” I suggested that natural selection acting on blind chance mutations cannot explain all of the beauty we see in animals and plants. Let’s continue to think about this as we examine the blessing of beauty.

The blessing of beauty involves more than just visual beauty. A humpback whale’s intricate and beautiful song lasts for half an hour. Does it have anything to contribute to the survival of these mammals? Well, in a way, it does. When human technology reached a point where the humpback’s song could be heard and recorded in the 1960s, more people than whale hunters got a chance to hear it. The exposure of that song to the general population of humans played a large part in the passage of laws preventing the slaughter of those animals. But that is evidence for human appreciation of beauty, not evolutionary natural selection. For those who suggest the male humpbacks use their songs to attract females, there is little to no evidence that the females are even paying attention.

No proponent of Darwinian evolution would suggest that humpback whales are even remotely related to nightingales, but those birds also contribute to the blessing of beauty. They sing long, complex, and beautiful songs, but rather than singing into the ocean, nightingales sing from twilight into the night. As those small birds sit on a branch singing, they make themselves easy prey for predators. Instead of singing for hours in the darkness, why don’t they just be quiet and stay safe until morning?

When scientists tape-recorded nightingales and slowed down the tape, lowering the pitch a couple of octaves, they discovered something very interesting. The result was that the nightingale’s song sounded much like the song of a humpback whale. On the other hand, if you take the humpback whale song and speed it up while raising the pitch, it compares to a nightingale’s song. Why should they be so much alike? Evolutionists like to call this sort of thing “convergent evolution.” I have another suggestion. Perhaps they got their music from the same original Composer.

Since the beauty of bird songs often goes beyond attracting mates for the survival of the fittest, do the birds sing because they love to hear music? I think they are merely doing what their Creator programmed them to do. But why did God design and program these animals to sing? Perhaps the blessing of beauty is God’s gift to us. Beauty brings us joy, eases our stress, and touches our emotions. Because God loves us, He created beauty for us to enjoy. The beauty around us provides an earthly sample of the beauty God has planned for us beyond this life. In other words, beauty is another evidence that God exists. With that in mind, the problem of beauty becomes the blessing of beauty.

Tomorrow, we will look at how beauty was a problem that, according to Darwin, “makes me sick.”

May 28, 2021May 27, 2021

Animals Seem to Demonstrate Altruism

Are animals willing to sacrifice their well-being to benefit another animal? Altruism is a human characteristic thought to be missing in animals. As scientists study animal behavior more deeply, they see many cases where animals seem to demonstrate altruism. Those include jumping into a fight to save another animal when there is no direct benefit to the intervening animal. In one case, killer whales were hunting a sea lion. Suddenly two humpback whales charged in and pushed the killer whales away, allowing the sea lion to escape. People observed that happening three times in the same area.

There are also situations where animals seem to demonstrate altruism by giving food away. Vampire bats need a constant supply of blood because they can’t survive more than 70 hours without it. Researchers have seen vampire bats regurgitate blood when an individual misses a meal. In one case, a vampire bat gave away so much blood that it starved to death. Studies of meerkats, a species of mongoose in southern Africa, have shown that one couple will breed the offspring and other adults raise the babies. Studies of bonobo primates have demonstrated that they share food both in captivity and in the wild.

Are those the behaviors we thought that only humans exhibited? One constant danger in studying animals is our tendency to anthropomorphize animal behavior. In other words, we interpret animal behavior in light of human behavior rather than looking at the possible reasons for the animal’s actions. You can see this by looking at how people treat and talk to their dogs. The reality is that the dog has learned where it gets its food, its sensual pleasure, and its security. No matter how much support the dog receives, it will still chase the cat, eat the feces of another dog, and bark at a time that displeases the owner. Dog owners tend to overlook those animal instincts and behaviors, and they may even put clothing on the dog.

Researchers can see that all animal behavior in the wild has some kind of survival benefit. In the cases above, the whales don’t have sympathy for the seal. Killer whales attack humpback whale babies, and the best defense the humpbacks have is to drive the killer whales out of the area. Vampire bats are not successful in getting blood every time they go out, so sharing benefits all of the bats because the next night might be their time to be unsuccessful. A similar scenario is present with monkeys sharing.

These animals seem to demonstrate altruism but still resort to survival behavior when under stress. Chimps raised in human homes do not become humans. When a human invades their territory, they resort to violent behavior. At the same time, pure altruism is a trait available to humans, but not all humans demonstrate it at all times. There is a saying that humans can act like animals, but animals cannot act like humans. The death of Christ on the cross is the classic example of sacrificing one’s self to benefit even those who reject you.

Reference: National Wildlife, June-July 2021 pages 30-35.