Study Shows Bird Species Change Fast | The Institute for Creation Research

Study Shows Bird Species Change Fast

Biologists recently found that feather colors and songs vary among some species within the South American genus Sporophila, also known as seedeater birds. But strangely, they did not find any genetic differences in the form of species-specific DNA markers. Do these variations fit any evolutionary pattern?

The researchers published their species comparisons in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. In their report, they wrote, "Taken together, we suggest that this is a compelling example of an extremely rapid, recent and ongoing continental radiation, with species diverging in male plumage [feather] coloration patterns and song."1

The terms "radiation" and "diverging" are routinely used to describe the supposedly slow and gradual Darwinian changes between animal kinds, like the radiation of dinosaurs that supposedly diverged into birds. The only divergence the researchers actually observed, however, occurred strictly within the seedeater bird population, which makes sense if the birds were created with the potential to fit and fill new environments.2

The study authors tried to explain why so many physical differences could be expressed without the expected underlying genetic differences. They suggested that the birds changed so fast and so recently that the genes have not yet had time to catch up.

But that's like saying that a batch of cupcakes acquired sprinkles before its recipe had a chance to "catch up" with the cupcakes and specify sprinkles! Whether in the obvious written recipe or the less obvious recipe modifications in the mind of the baker, the end product is a result of prior planning.

These authors' unscientific explanation seems to ignore the fact that trait differences are generated from within the organism. No external force in nature reaches into a bird's egg, passes through the shell and yolk, and adds new feather colors or new brain cell connection patterns that would enable new bird songs.

DNA research has overwhelmingly confirmed that hard-to-mark DNA sequences alter traits by specifying the amounts and timing of cell types and proteins deployed during embryonic and later development.3 Unlike the unobserved and imaginary forces invoked by evolution, observed cellular processes more reasonably account for the rapidly changing trait variations found in seedeater birds. This is supported by 2009 genetics studies of the rapid diversification of the "white-eyes" bird family.4

Lead author of the seedeater study and graduate biology student Leonardo Campagna said in a Queen's University press release, "One of Darwin's accomplishments was to show that species could change, that they were not the unaltered, immutable products of creation."5

But nowhere does the Bible say that species cannot change! Instead, it seems that they would have to change—within the limits of their own interbreeding kind—in order to fulfill God's command in Genesis 1 for His living creatures to fill the earth and its many changing environments.

Darwin insisted that animals slowly change between kinds. In contrast, seedeater birds have shown that they rapidly changed within their kind. Despite Campagna's touting of Darwin's "accomplishments," these birds display programmed variation, not evolution.

References

  1. Campagna, L. et al. Rapid phenotypic evolution during incipient speciation in a continental avian radiation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published online before print November 30, 2011.
  2. Guliuzza, R. 2010. Natural Selection Is Not "Nature's Intelligence." Acts & Facts. 39 (5): 10-11.
  3. See, for example, von Sternberg, R. and J. A. Shapiro. 2005. How repeated retroelements format genome function. Cytogenetic and Genome Research. 110 (1-4): 108-116.
  4. Moyle, R. G. et al. 2009. Explosive Pleistocene diversification and hemispheric expansion of a "great speciator." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (6): 1863-1868.
  5. Study shows species can change. Queen's University news release, December 8, 2011.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on December 21, 2011.

The Latest
NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...

NEWS
Ichthyosaur Graveyard Explained by the Flood
Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live...

CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...