There is nothing simple about the system of communication called language, whether animal or human.¹ Human language is a very sophisticated arrangement of words and grammar created in the beginning by God.^2,3 In fact, “there is no clear picture of when and how human language evolved.”⁴ In 2014, evolutionists stated,

Understanding the evolution of language requires evidence regarding origins and processes that led to change. In the last 40 years, there has been an explosion of research on this problem as well as a sense that considerable progress has been made. We argue instead that the richness of ideas is accompanied by a poverty of evidence, with essentially no explanation of how and why our linguistic computations and representations evolved.⁵

In his chapter on the origin of language, evolutionist Michael Denton stated that natural selection⁶ is not an explanation for the origin and evolution of man’s intellectual powers.

From an evolutionary point of view, the origin on man’s higher intellectual abilities [e.g., language] is one of the greatest of all mysteries, of all facts to be explained. It would certainly seem, in light of these preliminary observations, that the origin and evolution of our intellectual powers must have involved causal factors beyond natural selection.⁷ [Emphasis in the original]

According to evolution theory, the first whales appeared about 50–56 million years ago in the early Eocene Epoch. However, “how and when cetacean [whale] ancestors became fully aquatic remains a subject of intense debate.”⁸ The late zoologist Barbara Stahl said, “Where, geographically, the [ancient whales] first appeared is as puzzling as the identity of the group from which they sprang.”⁹ Evolutionist Michael Allaby said the Archaeoceti (ancient whales) “may have originated in Africa [emphasis added].”¹⁰

And determining the origin of whales isn’t the only puzzling whale issue for evolutionists. Recently, editor Sacha Vignieri reported in Science that after collecting eight years’ worth of humpback whale songs, Arnon et al. “found clear evidence of a Zipf distribution [human languages follow a particular distribution of words] in this song, as well as other hallmarks of human language such as statistical coherence and brevity of subsequences.”¹¹ So, the whale song is quite sophisticated, dumbfounding the zoologists. They were not expecting such statistical structure in the whale’s vocal ability.

Two evolutionists appeal to convergent evolution¹² to make their case for human and whale vocal cultures.¹³ But convergence explains nothing and is, in fact, a mystery.¹⁴ Whiten and Youngblood state,

the songs of the humpback whale are among animal culture’s most extraordinary manifestations. Sung only by males, the songs penetrate the ocean for many miles and are suspected to attract females for mating through their musical complexity. Year by year, the songs may become more complex and perhaps more alluring to females…[and] the complex songs of humpback whales conform to fundamental laws of language.¹³

Like Arnon et al.,¹⁵ their research points to the complexity of the humpback songs.

In their study, Arnon et al. “applied methods based on [human] infant speech segmentation to 8 years of humpback recordings, uncovering in whale song the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language.”¹⁵

Whales and people are obviously very distinct species, but they both show the part of learning and social transmission that—until recently—was thought to be exclusive to human language. This is hardly evidence of evolution.

There is no evidence of whale evolution^16,17 or human evolution,^18,19 nor is there evidence of the evolution of human language.^20–22 The Atlas of Languages states, “There remains a huge gulf between the rudimentary linguistic capabilities of apes and the complexity of human communication, which serves to emphasize the uniqueness of human language,”²³ and by extension, humanity.

It is not surprising that whale vocal abilities are sophisticated, and additional research will undoubtedly reveal even more amazing discoveries of these magnificent sea creatures,²⁴ but there’s no evidence that such communication evolved.

Like humans, whales were created as whales, complete with their designed²⁵ ability to communicate. As for the mystery surrounding the geographic origin of whales, we know precisely where they came from and who made them: “for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.”²⁶

References

1. Sherwin, F. God’s Gift of Speech. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org September 8, 2022.
2. Thomas, B. Human Language: An All or Nothing Proposition. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org June 1, 2010.
3. Bergman, J. New Language Research Speaks Volumes About Creation. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org October 2, 2018.
4. Futuyma, D. and M. Kirkpatrick. 2017. Evolution. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 559.
5. Hauser, M. et al. 2014. The Mystery of Language Evolution. Frontiers in Psychology. 5 (282): 401.
6. Guliuzza, R. 2010. Natural Selection Is Not ‘Nature’s Design Process.’ Acts & Facts. 39 (4): 10–11.
7. Denton, M. 2016. Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute Press, 197.
8. Skin Deep: Aquatic Skin Adaptations of Whales and Hippos Evolved Independently. American Museum of Natural History. Posted on sciencedaily.com April 1, 2021.
9. Stahl, B. 1985. Vertebrate History Problems in Evolution. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 487–488.
10. Allaby, M. 2020. Dictionary of Zoology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 49–50. See also Philip C. “Whale Evolution vs. Population Genetics – Richard Sternberg and Paul Nelson.” YouTube. August, 19, 2016. From Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth.
11. Vignieri, S. Editor’s summary. For Arnon, I. et al. Whale Song Shows Language-Like Statistical Structure. Science. 387 (6734): 649–653.
12. Guliuzza, R. 2017. Major Evolutionary Blunders: Convergent Evolution Is a Seductive Intellectual Swindle. Acts & Facts. 46 (3): 17–19.
13. Whiten, A. and M. Youngblood. 2025. Convergent Evolution in Whale and Human Vocal Cultures. Science. 581–582.
14. Bethell, T. 2017. Chapter 10. In Darwin’s House of Cards. Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute Press.
15. Arnon, I. et al. Whale Song Shows Language-Like Statistical Structure. Science. 387 (6734): 649–653.
16. Sherwin, F. and J. Tomkins. New Whale Fossil Harpoons Evolution. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 31, 2018.
17. Thomas, B. and J. Tomkins. Whale Evolution Dives to New Low. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org April 25, 2019.
18. Bergman, J. and J. Tomkins. 2011. The Chromosome 2 Fusion Model of Human Evolution…Part 1: Re-evaluating the Evidence. Journal of Creation. 25 (2): 106–110.
19. Tomkins, J. et al. 2022. Human Origins. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.
20. Thomas, B. Chimp Chat Study Confirms Language Is Human. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org August 19, 2024.
21. Bergman, J. New Language Research Speaks Volumes About Creation. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org October 2, 2018.
22. Sherwin, F. Do People and Wild Apes Share a Common Language? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org February 9, 2023.
23. Comrie, B., ed. 1996. The Atlas of Languages. New York: Quarto Inc., 8.
24. Acts 14:15.
25. Romans 1:20.
26. Exodus 20:11

* Dr. Sherwin is a news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.