THE LIFE OF BIRDS
February 1, 2004

In this documentary, which described various species of bird, two evolutionary myths were put forward. In the first it was claimed that birds had developed a broad spectrum of technical tools and means. This claim is based on using the word "developed" instead of "possess" in reference to the existing structures in living things, a tactic which is frequently employed in order to impose the theory of evolution on society without offering the slightest scientific evidence for it. There is no end to the number of examples which can be produced using this fictional narrative. For example, the fact that elephants possess trunks which allow them to break off tree branches and carry them expertly to their mouths, can be transformed into an evolutionary myth by saying, "elephants developed trunks to allow them to break off tree branches and carry them expertly to their mouths." This style of narrative is frequently resorted to in evolutionary propaganda, and is from time to time criticised even by evolutionist scientists as being unscientific. You can find one of our articles dealing with this subject here.

The second evolutionary myth referred to penguins swimming in water resembling dolphins. It then said that this meant the two had undergone the same evolutionary processes, and that in the same way that dolphins had evolved from air breathing land dwelling animals, so penguins had evolved from air breathing flying creatures.

The belief that similarities between living things are the product of evolution is here being offered as evidence of evolution. It is indeed possible to find similarities between penguins and dolphins, just as it is between any two things known to mankind. It is emphasised here that both animals are air breathing swimmers. So far so good. But in the next sentence the conclusion is drawn from that similarity that the two underwent the same process of evolution, without dealing in a logical manner with the signs of intelligent design in penguins and dolphins. This is a false conclusion: The natural or inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the fact that both are air breathing swimming animals is not that they underwent a process of evolution. Both have been created in such a way as to possess complex biological structures, organised in such a way as to perform specific functions. All these structures depend on the plans, in other words on information in their DNA. These features are some of the fundamental features of structures which are the product of intelligent design.

In the same way that there is a similarity between penguins and dolphins, so similarities can frequently be encountered in the products of intelligent design. For example, different makes of computer function with essentially the same types of chips and components. Yet these similarities do not demonstrate that the computers in question evolved from one another in a series of chance developments. That being the case, completely ignoring the features of intelligent design in biological structures and accepting the claim that they came into existence gradually through unconscious, aimless and blind mechanisms such as random mutation and natural selection can only be described as blind faith.

It can be seen that same blind faith dominates also the statement immediately following the claim that dolphins and penguins underwent the same evolutionary process. By saying that in the same way that dolphins evolved from air breathing land dwelling animals, so penguins evolved from air breathing flying creatures, evolution, adopted as an article of faith, is being portrayed as a historical fact. Yet this belief of Animal Planet's is a mistaken one. Far from revealing any transformation, the fossil record in fact shows that living species emerged suddenly, together with all their flawless bodily systems. Scientific observations and experiments also show that the natural selection and mutation on which the theory of evolution is based can never develop living things in such a way as to endow them with complexity. Our advice to the Animal Planet management is that they reconsider their beliefs and accept that the origin of life is intelligent design.

Relevant Article: The Origin of Marine Mammals