Some scientists are proposing a major change in how echidnas supposedly evolved. Echidnas are mammals that are covered with spines and that lay eggs. They have been thought to have evolved from land animals, but new research suggests they had a water-dwelling ancestor.
"A fair few mammals have evolved from living on land to living in the water, but for an animal to go the other way is very rare," Sue Hand, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said.
Sometimes called spiny anteaters, echidnas have been divided into four living species, three of which live only in New Guinea and the fourth in Australia as well as New Guinea. They are said to be related to platypuses. Both animals are called monotremes because they are the only living mammals that lay eggs and give birth to live young. The ancestors of echidnas and platypuses were thought to have lived on land.
Hand’s team arrived at their ideas after studying the upper forelimb bone of an extinct monotreme (Kryoryctes cadburyi) which they believe lived in Australia 108 million years ago. This species may have been an ancestor or relative of both modern platypuses and echidnas, the researchers said. Scientists have debated whether or not K. cadburyi lived exclusively on land.
The researchers studied both the surface and the insides of the bones to determine relationships and lifestyles of the animals. "Modern platypuses today have distinctive bones," Hand said. "They have very thick bone walls, and echidnas are almost the opposite, having quite thin bone walls. So, we were really interested to see what their common ancestor might have looked like."
Hand said the ancient fossil had heavy bones that would have acted like ballast, thus making it easier for the animal to dive under the water’s surface. This suggests K. cadburyi was a semiaquatic burrower, meaning the monotreme family used to be semiaquatic. But then the ancestors of echidnas must have moved onto land and their bones became lighter due to their new way of life.
There are not many fossils of the supposed ancestors of platypuses and echidnas, thus making it difficult to say when the transition to land actually happened. Hand says there are many examples of mammals moving from land to living at least partly in water, animals such as whales, dolphins, seals and beavers, but mammals evolving in the opposite direction, as the echidnas are said to have done, are extremely rare.
Comments: Evolutionists make much use of homology (similarities between animals) in arriving at their theories. However, shouldn’t they also focus on the differences that might suggest a lack of a relationship?
Yes, both echidnas and platypuses lay soft, leathery eggs, give birth to live young, and live in semi-aquatic environments in Australia. But look at the differences. Echidnas are covered with spines, platypuses with fur. Echidnas have pig-like snouts; platypuses duck-like bills. Platypuses have webbed feet and beaverlike tails; echidnas don’t. Echidnas eat mainly insects; platypuses also eat worms and crustaceans. Echidnas are basically solitary animals active at night. Platypuses are more social and prefer the daytime.
It would help the case for evolution if secular scientists could explain how an animal could evolve a major new feature in the first place. Answers quotes a U. of Arizona press release that says, “But exactly how nature creates variation in the first place still poses somewhat of a puzzle to evolutionary biologists.” Secularists depend on mutations as the means of creating genetic changes, but Answers says, “The problem for evolutionists is that the only beneficial mutations ever observed by humans do not add new information to the genome; they merely reshuffle or, sometimes, delete genetic information.”
It would also help the case for evolution if Darwinists could name a single example of a novel change occurring in an animal today. Is there any land animal giving evidence of developing new structures such as flippers and gills as it prepares for life in the water? Are there any nonhuman primates around that are evolving vocal cords as they strive to become capable of speech? The fossil record is a poor source of information on any imagined evolutionary change because nobody was around to observe such changes, making paleontology an often controversial science.
God has allowed a certain amount of variation within His created kinds. Evolutionists often confuse this limited variation for evolution. Answers says that the platypus is a created kind by itself, having no other living members like it.
Changes in nature and scientific controversies today continue to happen. But, in heaven we will all be alike in that we will be wearing the white robes of righteousness and enjoying a worry-free, painless life of joy with our Savior. Believers have repented of their sins and come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. They “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14b.
by Warren Krug
Reference: Chris Simms, “In rare evolutionary event, weird platypus cousin evolved from living in water to living on land, “ Live Science [April 30, 2025]. [Public domain photo of an echidna, from Microsoft Bing.]
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QUESTION OF THE DAY
If Elon’s Musk’s wealth was divided equally among all Americans, how much would each person get?
If Musk’s enormous $368 billion were equally divided in the U.S., each person would receive $1,079 (rounded to the nearest dollar). A couple would receive $2,158, while a family of four would get $4,316.
Source: Alan Joseph, “If Elon Musk’s Wealth Was Evenly Distributed Across America, How Much Money Would Every Person Get?” MSN.
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