The Peppered Moth Fraud

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When I was in high school, I learned about the peppered moth. Now, it’s a supposed example of evolution --and still used today in classrooms.

There are light, dark, and in-between shades of the peppered moth. Now, the story goes that before the Industrial Revolution, birds saw more of the dark moths sitting on tree trunks. Then, as pollution increased, they saw more of the light ones … and the population shifted. Then, as pollution declined, it shifted back again.

But this isn’t evolution! It’s just natural selection. The variety of moth color was already there.

And, actually, it was later revealed this whole experiment was possibly fraudulent—yet it’s still used to teach evolution today!

Dig Deeper

• Peppered Moth Again
• Peppered Moths . . . Evidence for Evolution?