The Real Origin of Species

Speciation is the fruit of evolution - or so evolutionists would have us believe. When a new species of any organism is discovered or observed then it’s, “Aha! Evolution in action!” Yada yada yada. There are some creationists who are confused about speciation and have made comments along the lines of, “if evolution is true, where are the new species?” Then, when a new species is discovered, the evolutionists do a great big “gotcha” and the creationist is left with egg on his face.

Speciation happens. It’s no great mystery really. I would go so far as to say that creationists have a better explanation of new species than evolutionists have.

We should start with a basic definition of “species.” That’s actually not so easy because evolutionists can’t really define a species. The first thing they’ll usually offer is some reproductive test - that is, two animals that can reproduce and have fertile offspring are the same species. However, this is not a good definition because wolves (Canis lupus) and domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are different species yet are able to reproduce and have fertile offspring. So, why are they different species? Here’s where the evolutionists begin their spin.

Let me offer a better definition: a species is an arbitrary term we assign to animals that possess a certain combination of traits. Among bears, for example, those bears that have light fur, pointed faces, long necks, larger bodies, etc., are called polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Bears with brown fur, shovel-shaped faces, short necks, somewhat smaller bodies are called grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). Polar bears and grizzly bears can interbreed. However, they possess enough unique features that we arbitrarily call them different species.

Here’s where it gets interesting. There are millions of species of animals. By the way, many critics will use this as a straw man to debunk the idea of the Ark - how could Noah fit millions of animals on the Ark? Well, the vast majority of the “millions” species are bacteria, fungi, insects, plants, or marine animals which did not have to be on the Ark. According to Wikipedia, there are only about 24,000 species of terrestrial, vertebrate animals. There are 8 species of bears, 25 species of chipmunks, 34 species of deer, etc. Noah did not have to bring 16 bears onto the Ark (2 of each species); he only had 2 bears. From these 2 ancestral bears, all other bear species have descended. It’s difficult to say exactly how many animals Noah had on the Ark but it was probably only around 5-7 thousand.

If we start with only 5-7K animals, how do we get 24K species? Let me tell you the real origin of species. Have you ever noticed there is a lot of variety among bears but not a lot of variety among polar bears? The ancestral bears would have been much more diverse. For example, the ancestral bears would have coded for many different colors of fur. As the bears spread into different areas, natural selection acted upon the bears and those traits not suited to the new environment were eliminated. Today, the polar bear can only code for light fur; the trait of dark fur has been eliminated from the polar bear population.

To drive this point home, think about dogs. There is a tremendous amount of variety among different breeds of dogs but which is more diverse: mutts or Irish Setters? Mutts, by far, are the more genetically diverse. A single pair of mutts can have pups of many different sizes, colors, and shapes even in the same litter. Irish Setter pups will all tend to look alike. Think of the ancestral bears as mutts. The original bear-mutts had cubs of many different colors, sizes, and shapes. In the snowy climes of the north, the light-haired cubs had the advantage of sneaking up on prey. The ones with the long necks and pointed faces found it easier to stick their heads into holes in the ice. The largest ones had the strength to pull seals out of the water. The ones with webbed toes swam better. All of these traits were selected for, the other traits were eliminated, and voilà - the polar bear species was born.

Today, animals are pretty well adapted to their environment so sudden speciation shouldn’t be expected. But even so, when animals are subjected to new environments it’s no huge surprise to see speciation occur. The most important thing to remember is that when speciation occurs, no new traits are added to the population - unsuitable traits are eliminated and a certain combination of traits remain. The offspring are better adapted to their environment, but they are less diverse than their parents. This isn’t a net increase in genetic information - it’s a loss. Animals losing traits is NOT evolution. Speciation is NOT evolution.

God created plants and animals to reproduce after their kind. Bears produce bears. There may be a lot of variety among bears, but they’ll always be bears. We may call them new species but they’re still bears. Evolutionists would have you believe that something that looked like a fish - after millions of years of reproduction - became a bear. That’s just not true. God created the first bears and they’ve been bears ever since. Now you know the REAL origin of species.