Frog Teeth Causing Controversy Among Evolutionists

Did you know that most frogs have teeth on their upper jaw? A frog with teeth on both its upper and lower jaws has been causing quite a problem for evolutionists. This frog is also a problem for unsuspecting flies and other insects!

Recently, a team of scientists decided to study Gastrotheca guentheri, which is a frog found in Columbia and Ecuador. They concluded that Gastrotheca guentheri lost the teeth on its lower jaw over 230 million years ago, due to evolutionary changes. They are puzzled because they also concluded that Gastrotheca guentheri re-evolved its missing teeth over the last 20 million years.1 This is causing quite a bit of controversy, since the conclusions of this study violate a basic evolutionary law. Evolutionists do not expect to see lost traits, which are considered inferior, reappear over time.

This frog is not puzzling at all from a biblical worldview—one that is based on the Bible. We know that God created frogs on Day Six of Creation Week, around 6,000 years ago (Genesis 1:24-25). We also know that Adam and Eve’s sin drastically changed the world. By using observational science, we see animals pass down different traits to their offspring through a change in genetic information—never through an addition of new genetic information. Many times, genetic changes cause deformity or death.

These unusual frogs have the genetic information for producing teeth on both their lower and upper jaws. If we observe, over several frog generations, that some offspring have lower teeth and some do not, it is no surprise. This just indicates a change in the genetic information passed down from some of the parents to their offspring.

After frogs with fangs were discovered in Papau New Guinea (2009), our News to Note column reported:

Each of these discoveries reminds us of just how much diversity is possible within each created kind since all the land animals departed from the Ark. Much of the information in the genome of those original animals has been expressed, repressed, or lost through speciation and mutation. But the creativity shown in each kind is truly amazing . . .

Everything the team discovered fits with animals we’re accustomed to: birds, fish, rats, etc. Even though some of these animals have unique features, there is still no evidence of fish growing legs or salamanders sprouting mammal hair. Frogs with fangs are still frogs. In a similar fashion, creatures on the famous Galápagos Islands, though often cited as evidence of evolution, suffer this same defect (as far as evolution is concerned). Finches and tortoises, no matter the size of their beaks or the shapes of their shells, will always be finches and tortoises.2

So what do we find in Gastrotheca guentheri, whether its teeth have changed or not? We find that a frog is always a frog—and that’s no surprise!

For more information, please read the following:

• A Different View of Natural Selection
• Get Answers: Design Features
• Get Answers: Evolution
• Happy Birthday, Darwin!
• Is Natural Selection the Same Thing as Evolution?