A Fossil Seal That Walked on Legs?

Evolutionists claim to have found a "missing link" between seals and otters.

SUMMARY: Scientists in northern Canada have discovered a fossil of a creature that "probably" had webbed feet that were not flippers. It "could" hold the secret of seal evolution, they say. (picture: Harbor seal, wikipedia commons)

The fossil has been named Puijila darwini in honor of Charles Darwin who believed land mammals would move into a marine environment by way of a fresh water stage. "The find suggests that pinnipeds went through a fresh water phase in their evolution," said Natalia Rybczynski who led the field work. "It also provides us with a glimpse of what the pinnipeds looked like before they had flippers."

The skeleton was about 65% complete. That allowed the researchers to "reconstruct" what the animal would have looked like. The legs suggest it would have walked upright but the foot bones "hint" strongly at webbed feet.

According to evolutionary scientists, until now the most "primitive" fossil pinniped was a creature called Enaliarctos that apparently lived in the sea in northwestern North America. This new discovery makes them think seals, sea lions and walruses all likely had their origins in the Arctic.

To read the entire article click on this BBC NEWS link.

COMMENT: After checking several science Web sites (some covered this story, others didn't), I wasn't impressed with what the researchers found. Most of the illustrations of this creature were drawings or painting. We all know how imaginative artists can get when under the influence of evolutionary scientists. One site (Science News) had a complete skeleton shown but admitted that the missing bones had been "filled in."

One will note all the tentative words used in describing this fossil: may, probably, could, suggests, and hint. Also, when one hears the term "reconstruction," a caution flag ought to be raised. Brontosaurus was a reconstruction until paleontologists discovered it was not put together right. There was no such dinosaur.

Well, what did these researchers find? Sixty-five percent of the bones from a creature that had legs and foot bones "hinting" of webbed feet. Apparently then the legs were complete, but the scientists weren't able to say for sure that the creature had webbed feet.

It will be interesting to see what the main creationist sites like Answers in Genesis, ICR, and Creation Ministries have to say about Puijila darwini if anything, but I would like to make the following observations: 1. the legs of this fossil were fully formed. Before it can be cited as a missing link, one must find other fossils showing a gradual evolution of legs into flippers. 2. The old criticism of gradual evolution can be raised here again. Why would an animal evolve a partial appendage until it was fully formed and of some use to the creature?

Enough said about what may be a previously unknown animal but which was no transitional creature. We have no reason to question Genesis and the truth that all creatures reproduce "according to their kinds" including humans. We have no reason to question that Adam was our first ancestor and like him we also need a Savior because of his original sin and our continual sinning. Thank God we have a Savior in the person of Jesus Christ.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

How is a food calorie defined?

A basic calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. It is too small a unit to use for purposes of measuring food energy, so kilocalories (1000 times a calorie) are used instead. Therefore, if a bagel is said to have 150 calories (kilocalories), it truthfully has 150,000 actual calories.

Source: Exploring the World of Biology by John Hudson Tiner

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