What similarities exist between bears and whales? Both are mammals, distinguished by giving birth to live young and nursing them. Nevertheless, despite bears being land animals with limbs, no whale has ever been seen having legs. Even though bears swim a great deal, could their extended aquatic existence result in the evolution of their limbs into fins, similar to what is observed in whales?
The Evolutionary Origins of Whales
Charles Darwin, pondering the behavior of black bears who can swim for long periods, once wrote:
“…it swims for hours with its mouth wide open, catching insects in the water in the same way as a whale. Even in such an extreme case as this, if the supply of insects were constant and better-adapted competitors did not exist in the country, I see no difficulty in a race of bears becoming, by natural selection, more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale”.1
Darwin’s ideas are now largely regarded as illustrative rather than literal. For an extended period, secular scientists maintained that whales evolved from an extinct group of carnivorous mammals, Mesonychia.2 However, this interpretation has been largely abandoned by contemporary evolutionary biologists, who now propose that whales are more closely related to terrestrial mammals such as camels and giraffes.3 Nonetheless, Professor Kenneth Rose of Johns Hopkins University has identified notable discrepancies between fossil-based interpretations and the conclusions drawn from molecular data.4 Despite these contradictions, the prevailing view among evolutionists remains that whales evolved from a four-legged terrestrial ancestor.
The “Vestigial Pelvis”
Secular scientists often view the highly reduced pelvis and hip bones in whales as compelling evidence of evolution. These whale “hips” are regarded as vestigial structures, similar to the human appendix.5 Jerry Coyne from the University of Chicago represents this evolutionary perspective with the following statement:
“Whales are treasure troves of vestigial organs. Many living species have a vestigial pelvis and leg bones, testifying … to their descent from four-legged terrestrial ancestors. If you look at a complete whale skeleton in a museum, you’ll often see the tiny hindlimb and pelvic bones hanging from the rest of the skeleton, suspended by wires. That’s because in living whales they’re not connected to the rest of the bones, but are simply imbedded in tissue. They once were part of the skeleton, but became disconnected and tiny when they were no longer needed.”6
With this perspective, evolutionists spent decades without investigating alternative functions for these bones. Eventually, however, two researchers undertook this task.
Matthew Dean from the University of Southern California and Jim Dines from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History examined the “hip bones” in whale and dolphin skeletons.7 Their analysis, published in the scientific journal Evolution,8 revealed that the pelvic bones of whales and dolphins have an important function. Dean stated:
“Everyone’s always assumed that if you gave whales and dolphins a few more million years of evolution, the pelvic bones would disappear. But it appears that’s not the case.”7
The pelvic bones are directly attached to muscles that control the whale’s highly mobile penis. Dean and Dines concluded that these bones “may influence the level of control an individual whale has over its penis, possibly offering an evolutionary advantage.”7
While both researchers are evolutionists and thus unlikely to admit their findings reveal an evolutionary error, Dean acknowledged:
“Our research really changes the way we think about the evolution of whale pelvic bones in particular, but more generally about structures we call ‘vestigial.’ As a parallel, we are now learning that our appendix is actually quite important in several immune processes.”7
The Scientific Community’s Response
In an effort to uphold the concept of vestigial organs, scientists have not conceded any errors in their assessment of whale “hips”. While Coyne acknowledges that whales utilize these bones during reproduction, he nonetheless asserts:
“No evolutionist denies that remnants of ancestral features can retain some functionality or be co-opted for other purposes.”9
Has any researcher ever observed such “co-option”? The invocation of co-option serves more to align what doesn’t fit with evolutionary theory than to offer observable evidence.
Furthermore, in an effort to uphold the evolutionary model of a transition from terrestrial mammals to aquatic species, evolutionists often reference fossil evidence. In Southwest Asia, fossils of four-legged creatures with distinct pelvises have been discovered. These fossils, known as Ambulocetus and Pakicetus, were classified as primitive whales, despite bearing little resemblance to modern whales.
Shouldn’t an animal exhibit most of the characteristic traits of a whale to be classified as one?
An article in Science titled “What is a Whale?” addressed the question of whether Ambulocetus should be considered part of the whale lineage. While acknowledging its clear lack of typical whale features, scientists concluded that “the more reasonable solution is to use a phylogenetic definition [for whales], based on common ancestry… Ambulocetus is considered a whale by virtue of its inclusion in this lineage.”10
However, further research is necessary to determine whether Ambulocetus exhibited sufficient similarities to whales. Redefining whales based on a “phylogenetic” framework does not inherently classify Ambulocetus as a whale, particularly considering the significant lack of resemblance between the two.
Not a Pelvis, but Carefully Designed Bones
A more plausible explanation11 for the whale pelvis is that these bones are specifically designed for a particular function. Unlike typical bones, they do not connect to other bones but are instead attached to various muscles. Similarly, many animals, including humans, possess a hyoid bone in the neck, which is also attached solely to muscles. This bone acts as a strong anchor for these muscles, facilitating the efficient movement of the tongue, throat, and larynx. The bones in a whale’s lower abdomen also serve as “anchors” for the muscles to which they are connected, enabling precise manipulation of specific structures. This arrangement is both an effective and necessary structural adaptation.
The terms used in scientific literature, such as “whale hip bones” or “whale pelvis,” can be misleading. A change in terminology would offer a more accurate representation of these structures. However, despite ongoing research and new discoveries, the evolutionary framework of science continues to maintain its established nomenclature.
By the way, we recommend reading the articles:
- Viking Bones and Radiocarbon Dating
- Who Created God?
- Did Kangaroos Evolve in Australia?
- Göbekli Tepe – A Great Mystery for Historians
- Human Races: A Scientific Perspective
Footnotes
- Darwin, C., 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. London: John Murray, p. 184.
- Mayr, E., 2001. What Evolution Is. New York: Basic Books, p. 63.
- Spaulding, M., O’Leary, M.A. and Gatesy, J., 2009. Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) Among Mammals: Increased Taxon Sampling Alters Interpretations of Key Fossils and Character Evolution. PLoS ONE, 4(9), p. e7062.
- Rose, K.D., 2001. The Ancestry of Whales. Science, 293(5538), pp. 2216-2217. See also Spaulding et al., p. 11.
- Guliuzza, R., 2016. Major Evolutionary Blunders: Our Useful Appendix—Evidence of Design, Not Evolution. Acts & Facts, 45(2), pp. 12-14.
- Coyne, J.A., 2009. Why Evolution Is True. New York: Viking, p. 60.
- Perkins, R., 2014. Whale Sex: It’s All in the Hips. University of Southern California News Release. Posted on pressroom.usc.edu, 8 September. Accessed 24 February 2022.
- Dines, J.P., et al., 2014. Sexual Selection Targets Cetacean Pelvic Bones. Evolution, 68(11), pp. 3296-3306.
- Coyne, J., 2005. The Faith That Dare Not Speak Its Name: The Case Against Intelligent Design. The New Republic, 22 August.
- Berta, A., 1994. What Is a Whale? Science, 263(5144), pp. 180-181.
- Thomas, B., 2014. Vital Function Found for Whale ‘Leg’ Bones. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org, 6 October. Accessed 24 February 2022.
Developed based on: R. J. Guliuzza, „Are whales and evolution joined at the hip?”, Acts&Facts, Institute for Creation Research, March 2016, p. 12-14.
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