'Totally Strange' Hurdia a Hurdle for Evolution | The Institute for Creation Research
   
'Totally Strange' Hurdia a Hurdle for Evolution

Cambrian rock layers contain fossils that represent almost every modern phylum of animal, plus many that are now extinct. One animal fossil in particular would win the weird prize, if there were one. Paleontologists have been piecing together this strange creature’s body parts, which look as though they were taken from an array of totally different sea animals. This variety of features eludes an evolutionary explanation.

The parts of this particular fossilized animal had previously been described separately and given different names, as though they belonged to different creatures. But a recent study revealed that all these parts came from just one “totally strange” sea creature.1 Named Hurdia, this animal had features that resembled those “scattered through at least eight Cambrian taxa,” according to the report published in the journal Science.2 And some of those taxa, or kinds, were even from totally different phyla, the broadest classification level for animals. Its initial discoverer thought that “the mouth parts were a jellyfish, the front legs were shrimp, the main body a sea cucumber, and a tear-drop shaped shell, another animal.”1

And yet, this odd creature’s various physical features appeared in the fossil record fully integrated into one extraordinary design. Because of its strange conglomeration of parts, it would be very difficult to interpret what Hurdia evolved from and what it evolved into, since jellyfish, shrimp, and sea cucumbers are very different creatures. But it makes sense as a created animal with mosaic features, which are shared among otherwise disparate organisms. None of its features are transitional, but are instead found fully-formed in other creatures today that have no relationship to one another in any evolutionary scenario.

A better known example of a mosaic creature—one that is in no way a transition but instead represents an evolutionary enigma—is the duck-billed platypus. As its name implies, this mammal has a bill like a duck, but also has spurs on its hind legs like a rooster. Duck-billed platypuses lay leathery eggs like reptiles, and yet they have fur. And platypus fossils from South America and elsewhere reveal that they always have been platypuses, with no evolutionary ancestors.

Hurdia was appropriately assigned its own unique phylum name. However, mosaic creatures like this can be fitted into many different phylogenetic trees, or diagrams showing evolutionary relationships, based on the resemblance their body parts may have to other creatures. If their evolutionary history is unclear and promises to remain as ambiguous and contentious as that of other oddball animals, one wonders if they evolved at all.

Although mosaic creatures are impossible to fit into a universally agreed-upon evolutionary phylogeny, they fit just fine with the idea that God created animals to reproduce after their own kinds.3 Their various unusual body parts—each of which adequately fulfills its task yet all of which are integrated into a whole, functioning organism—would indicate that they were made by a Creator who pays attention to details, as well as One with a radical imagination.

References

  1. Gorski, C. Spectacular Fossil Discovery: 100 Years Later. Inside Science News Service. Posted on LiveScience.com, August 20, 2009, accessed August 29, 2009.
  2. Daley, A.C. et al., 2009. The Burgess Shale Anomalocaridid Hurdia and its Significance for Early Euarthropod Evolution. Science. 323: 1597.
  3. Thomas, B. Why Can Moss Process Human Genes? ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 16, 2009, accessed August 24, 2009.

Image Credit: Science/AAAS

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

Article posted on September 9, 2009.

The Latest
NEWS
The Origin of Metabolism
Metabolism is the totality of chemical reactions that manage all of the molecular, material, and energy resources within an organism. Part of a creature’s...

NEWS
Bumblebee University
Entomologists, biologists who study insects, continue to uncover amazing discoveries regarding the intellect of bees1,2 Now, biologists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...