Rare Evolution in Action Spotted in Island Bats

Stay with me here, parallel evolution is when different populations (usually of the same species or genus, which would be within the same biblical kind) that live in similar environments evolve similar features independently.

Now, these two species of bats, the smaller one (Hipposideros diadema) and the other much larger one (Hipposideros dinops, which is double the size and weight), both live on the same islands and even sometimes in the same cave, but do not interbreed. It is believed that the larger species feeds on larger insects or maybe even amphibians, while the smaller species feeds on smaller insects. DNA tests were done on captured bats, and the two species are very closely related. So what makes these two species prime examples of parallel evolution? According to the article, the fact that each group of the larger bats has evolved to look the same “suggests the rapid and repeated evolution of larger bodied bats from smaller bats, each happening independently on separate islands.” Hmm. So far, it’s all about bats producing bats.

Dr. Lavery further explained,

When we created family trees using the bats’ DNA, we found that what we thought was just one species of large bat in the Solomon Islands was actually a case where bigger bats had evolved from the smaller species multiple times across different islands. . . .

Something very strong is pushing or selecting for these big bats, and it is strong enough for it to happen multiple times on different islands. We think these larger bats might be evolving to take advantage of prey that the smaller bats aren’t eating. Although they could probably interbreed, they don’t for some reason.

Is this really an example of evolution in action? No, it is merely adaptation within a biblical kind based on the genetic diversity already present in the DNA.

Now, is this really an example of evolution in action? No, it is merely adaptation within a biblical kind based on the genetic diversity already present in the DNA. This allows the bats to flourish in the same environment but with different prey species so that they don’t over-compete for resources. Additionally, the sonar frequencies of the larger bats are lower and suited to hunting bigger prey, while the smaller bats use a higher frequency.

In the journal paper, they discussed another species of bat found on only a few islands—Hipposideros demissus, which is even smaller than H. diadema. The researchers took measurements of forearm length (which they used as a proxy for overall body size) of 92 bats from the Solomon Islands and revealed that the three named species in the group corresponded with three discrete, nonoverlapping body size classes. No adult individuals with intermediate forearm lengths were encountered among the specimens examined in this study. Now, of course this doesn’t mean there isn’t an intermediate-size bat, they may just not have found one. But even if that statement is true of all the bats of these species, how is that evolution in action?

As the bats came off the ark, they flew to new habitats and likely had much greater genetic diversity, and God’s frontloading of genetic differences within the various kinds at creation allowed for the potential for speciation. As AiG’s own Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson pointed out: “When God created the kinds heterozygous, He virtually guaranteed the formation of new species. The statistics of reproduction ensure the appearance of new traits in one or a few generations, and simple population growth curves indicate that these offspring can found new populations in short order.”

This speciation of bats in the Solomon Islands is not an example of evolution in action but of God’s all-wise provision for these bats to be able to survive in the post-fall and post-flood world.

In a way, this is no different than the example used in public school textbooks regarding Darwin’s finches. There are different size finches with different size beaks, and this is supposed to be a great example of evolution. But really, it’s just different species of finches exhibiting variation within a kind. We have an exhibit on this at the Creation Museum.

To claim these bats and finches are evidence of evolution in action shows just how bankrupt the idea of molecules to man really is.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Georgia Purdom, Kevin Hadsall, and Patricia Engler. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• Did Queensland drop homeschooling changes from education reform bill?
• Did human evolution run in reverse?
• Did Bill Maher stun pro-lifers, admitting abortion is “kind of” murder?
• And more!

Be sure to join us each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.