Whale Evolution
Whale anatomy is said to present one of the clearest examples of evolution through transitional stages. In this talk Dr Marc Surtees examines the fossil evidence for these transitions. He challenges the view that there is a neat set of transitions from land animals to whales
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An educational lecture on whale evolution, examining the traditional evolutionist viewpoint through the creationist prism. Worthwhile watch even if you sensibly disregard the creationist message entirely.
The speaker is a fairly reasonable creationist: he is happy with the idea that snakes have lost their legs, and does not menion the great flood of noah's ark, nor does he rely on the bible as a crutch. He also includes some of his own reasonable hypotheses about function (which are not inconsistant with natural selection). And suggests creationist biology should be able to make predictions in the future.
Rather than rejecting Darwinian selection and evolution outright, he has incorporated what he can from scientific literature into a creationist worldview. His main points of difference with mainstream biologists are largely matters of opinion, and a refusal to simply place what we know into an evolutionary framework, even when it fits perfectly well there.
The central argument is that, in the speaker's opinion, whales could not have evolved from Basilosaurus to Pakicetus in "just" 15 million years, and that basically all families of whales (fossil and extant) are too different to have evolved from each other.
He compares areas such as general anatomy, middle ear, echo location, and vestigal legs.
Argues that there is a lack of "gradual transition" in semicircular canal size; and also that vestigual whale legs are not homologous to land animal legs, due to different musculature and innervation. And because tibia and fibia are not clearly defined.
Talks about Hox genes (changes in genetically controlled regulator sequences), and briefly looks at hybrids (Wholphins).
Gives a brief overview of "creationist biology" as "variation within a kind". Including a view of atavism and vestige. (God creates "types" of organisms)
Worth watching, just for the comparative anatomy lesson.
A good place to learn more (and to add information from published research) is Wikipedia's article on "Evolution of cetaceans".