Show Your Teen This Example of “Evolution in Action”

According to reports, scientists are getting “front row seats of evolution unfolding in real time,” as two lizard species interact for the first time in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Florida. Researchers were already studying a small lizard, the Cuban brown anole, when a similar species, the Puerto Rican crested anole, turned up. Both of these lizards (which belong to the same created kind) eat the same types of foods and live in the same types of habitats, so the researchers saw it as “a rare opportunity where we could watch evolution as it happened.”

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Now, as they studied these lizards over several years and compared them to single-species populations, here’s what they found:

The crested anoles spent more of their time living in trees, and were found to perch higher up on average than the brown anoles. The latter lizards, meanwhile, adapted to spend more time on the ground.

Most interesting of all, the brown anoles evolved new physical traits to support their new ground-dwelling lifestyle. They were found to start growing longer legs, which helps them run faster and boosts their survival rates.

“We found that brown anoles with longer legs had higher survival after crested anoles showed up,” said Stroud. “This matches perfectly with the physical differences we see in populations where these species have been living together for many generations.”

In other words, the lizards remained lizards with minor variations that allowed them to adapt to slightly different habitats—something they’ve already been observed doing in other places!

In other words, the lizards remained lizards with minor variations that allowed them to adapt to slightly different habitats—something they’ve already been observed doing in other places! This is due to already existing genetic diversity. Nothing new was created, and the lizards remained lizards. Can’t you see the obvious evidence for evolution?

This is what we see time and time again (check out the end of their article—it gives several examples of the same thing!). We’re told scientists have an example of “evolution in action,” but all they’ve observed is natural selection as organisms, using the genetic diversity already present in their genomes, adapt to a new or changing environment.

What they’ve never shown (and never will show) is any evidence of change of kind or the creation of brand-new, functioning genetic information coding for new forms or features. That’s never been observed because life didn’t evolve: it was created by God.

The evidence confirms the Bible, not evolutionary ideas about the past.

I encourage you to show this example to your teens and use it to teach them the biblical truth about created variety within the kinds God made. There’s variety in lizards (like anoles) because God created each kind with genetic diversity.

The evidence confirms the Bible, not evolutionary ideas about the past.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Bryan Osborne, Dr. Marisa Tillery, 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:

• Federal government defines “woman” as woman.
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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

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