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Reasons To Believe Home PageAmong the many recent challenges to naturalism comes one from the mouths of ancient whales. Phosphate isotopes in early whales’ teeth tell of a rapid transition from fresh water ingestion to salt water ingestion. Three geologists and two anatomists from the United States and India teamed up to discover that the Pakicetus and Nalacetus whale species (52 million years ago) drank only fresh water, Ambulocetus (abouot 50 million years ago) drank fresh water at least through its formative years and probably all its life, and Indocetus (48 million years ago) drank salt water only.1
In just two to four million years—or less—whales’ physiology changed radically. The number and rapidity of "just right" mutations to accomplish such a change defies the limits set by molecular clocks. Proponents of punctuated equilibria, the increasingly popular alternative to gradualism, suggest that dramatic genetic changes occur in sudden jumps propelled by severe environmental stress. The period from 48 to 52 million years ago, however, appears to have been far less stressful than such a scenario demands. Further, populations were too small and maturation times too long for whale species to survive a substantial increase in mutations rate.
Besides supporting the necessity of a Creator, whale fossil research affirms the biblical creation chronology. Some paleontologists have ridiculed Genesis for placing the creation of sea mammals after, rather than before, the appearance of land mammals, a seeming contradiction of the fossil data. And yet a closer look at the text, as well as the fossils, exonerates Scripture. The land mammals mentioned on the sixth creation day comprise three specialized categories of mammals, not all land mammalian species of life.2 These categories include easy to domesticate long-legged species; wild, that is, more difficult to tame long-legged species; and low-to-the-ground creatures such as rabbits and rodents. The fossil dates for these specialized land mammals post-date the early sea mammals by many millions of years.
1. J. G. M. Thewissen, et al, "Evolution of Cetacean Osmoregulation," Nature, 381 (1996), pp. 379-380.
2. Hugh Ross, Creation and Time (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1994), pp. 152-154.
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