The Ambulocetus: The Later Stages Of Whale Evolution

It is believed by Creationists that the Earth was created six thousand years ago. As Creation Science Today discusses, evidence of early humans is rare – written records cannot be found from more than four thousand years ago (Around the time of the early Egyptian empire, as documented in the Biblical books from Exodus to Ezekiel). A commonly held belief held by evolutionists is that the human race survived as hunter-gatherers for 185,000 years in the Stone Age before discovering such basic forms of communication as language and the written record. It is considered by Creationists an unlikely proposition that the human race took such an extended period of time to make these discoveries. The Biblical time scale indicates that humans descended from Noah (post-flood in Exodus) roughly 4,400 years ago. These humans (as depicted in the Bible) were intelligent and already advanced – contrary

to the beliefs of Evolutionists.
To Creationists the Bible is a sacred text which details God’s creation and intervention in our world. It is regarded as an accurate and reliable historical text which provides a timeline of events that can be cross-checked with other historical texts, proving its accuracy. The cornerstone of Christian ideology is God’s creation of the world; such events are explicitly outlined in Genesis 1:1-31. A brief summary may be found below:
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (1)
• God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Subsequent creation of evening and morning. (3-5)
• God made the sky and the sea. (6-8)
• God separated land from sea. (9-10)
• God created all animals (20-25)
• God made mankind in his image to rule over the land. (26-27)
Exodus 20.11 states that “… in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day…” This reinforces the events of Creation. The book of Hebrews was written prior to 70 A.D. and seeks to communicate the significance of Jesus. Hebrews 11.3 states “by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” This cross-references the events in Genesis and confirms the occurrence of Creation in this document.
Colossians 1.16 says that “for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” This reinforces the story of Creation and the authority of God. Psalm 89.11 seeks to further this message by stating that “the heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.”
These verses from the Bible function as human records for God’s creation. There are no fossils that verify creation as Christian doctrine states that all beings – and hence, fossils – were created by God, ergo all fossils verify the occurrence of Creation. However, Creationists often capitalise on the fact that ‘true’ (verifiable) transitional fossils are yet to be found. Jonathan Sarfati from creation.com argues that the Archaeopteryx – a renowned fossil that combines feathers and skeletal structures exclusive to birds with notable features of dinosaurs – as a fossil that displays intelligent design and, moreover, creation. Sarfati argues that though the subject had teeth, that was a feature common to many extinct birds, and the form of the vertebrae and pelvis indicated the presence of some of the air sacs present in modern birds, therefore demonstrating unique avian lung design – the complexity surely a demonstrable case of intelligent design. It has been suggested that the ancestors of the Archaeopteryx were dated to be younger than the fossil in question, though that is yet to be confirmed.
Another prominent transitional fossil, the Ambulocetus, has been hailed as the missing link in whale evolution. However, in the graphic renditions of this fossil’s reconstruction the fact that few bones were recovered is omitted: the sketches of the skeleton feature many bones than were actually found. Most importantly, the pelvis was never found, meaning that the nature of this fossil’s locomotion may not be determined and therefore cannot be hailed as the ‘missing link’.

The famed Cambrian explosion depicted the abrupt appearance of all animal groups with no apparent preceding transitional fossils. According to conventional scientific dating techniques, this event occurred approximately five hundred million years ago. This occurrence was inexplicable by Charles Darwin and other reputed Evolutionists. However, according to Creationist logic this explosion of all major animal types demonstrates the fossil record is not sequentially ordered but is rather a burial sequence from the Exodus flood. This is a clear example in the fossil record of the validity of the theory of Creation: the occurrence of a great flood solidifies the theory of Creation.

C-14 Dating is a method used to accurately date organic materials. It has a half-life of 5,730 years and therefore should not exist in ancient fossils (such as coal) that are considered to be millions of years old. However, C-14 has been detected in various samples that are reputed to be millions of years old. The chief weakness of this style of dating is the assumption of equilibrium between C-12 and C-14 concentrations at the point of death. However, “it is now admitted by all investigators that equilibrium does not exist—that the C-14 concentration is constantly increasing.” This statement implies less C-14 at the actual point of death and means that samples would date much older than their actual age. This is consistent with the Creationists’ theory of a global flood which would have trapped massive amounts of carbon in plants and greatly decreased the carbon in the atmosphere. The natural production of CO2 by decaying plants would have significantly decreased and resulted in a reduction of atmospheric carbon. Moreover, the altered C-14 levels in plants and animals would result in dating techniques determining the samples much older than their actual age.
A source of controversy regarding the Bible’s credibility as a historical source is the frequent mention of camels in the early Old Testament, considering the fact that camels weren’t domesticated in the Middle East until a millennium after the Bible’s mentions in Genesis 12:16. It is argued by many modern scholars that camels were not used as pack animals until after the 12th century BC (from 1200 to 1101 BC). Upon the discovery of camel bones in the Aravah Valley mines between the Red and Dead Seas and subsequent C-14 dating, the bones have been dated to the late 900s BC.

The Old Testament of the Bible was written between 1400 BC and 450 BC. There was a five hundred year gap between the Old and New Testaments. The New Testament was written between 35 AD and 95 AD. The events of the Old Testament occur between 4124 BC (Genesis 1:1) and 538 BC (Ezra 1). The events of the New Testament occur between 4 BC (Matthew 2:16-23) and 95 AD (Revelations 1-22). All of these events occurred in the Holocene epoch and further emphasise the Christian belief that Creation was a recent event.

The Archaeopteryx skeleton was discovered in 1861 in Germany. The discovery was made at the same time as the publication of Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’. Since 1861 seven other skeletons have been located. The Archaeopteryx was unique due to having some avian characteristics – feathers and wings – but also possessing reptilian traits: a long bony tail, teeth and clawed fingers on the wing edges. It is significant as it has been identified as a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and modern birds. To solidify the role of the Archaeopteryx as a transitional fossil, it is important to compare new discoveries of avian specimens in China and Spain. These fossils were dated to be thirty to forty million years younger than the fossil in question, and are more bird-like. The newly found fossils have short bony tails and reduced hand claws which demonstrate the trend towards avian characteristics. These discoveries demonstrate the evolutionary trend that has occurred in order for dinosaurs to gradually evolve into modern birds.

The Cambrian Explosion was the relatively rapid appearance of most major animal types in the fossil record. It occurred between 530 to 570 million years ago. At this point all life was aquatic and most was relatively small. The animals that appeared in the Cambrian explosion were primitive forms of modern animal groups such as birds and mammals, but included basic features of modern animals. Interestingly, the Cambrian Explosion was the first occurrence of a trilobite (index) fossil. Though the Cambrian Explosion contradicts Darwin’s view of gradual change in a species, it gave rise to a new theory of evolution – punctuated equilibrium. Punctuated equilibrium is a theory which regards the process of evolution as consisting of long intervals of ‘stasis’ punctuated by short periods of rapid change. This theory correlates with the gaps in the fossil record, though the theorists have acknowledged the imperfection of the fossil record as a reason for the gaps.
A more Darwinian perspective states that such rapid evolution is not possible; rather there was an extended period of evolutionary development of all animals. Such evidence was then lost in the Precambrian period. It is important to note, however, that sudden bursts of change in the fossil records are not one-off events and are therefore likely to be an instance of sudden Creation. Explosions in the fossil record often occur after periods of mass extinction, such as the Ordovician-Silurian extinction. A theory supported by considerable data suggests that prior to the Cambrian Explosion the entire Earth was covered with ice. This meant that life in the oceans was non-existent. That would have qualified as an extinction event which was followed by a burst of life – the Cambrian Explosion. However, due to so many variables surrounding the explosion, such as a lowering of ocean temperature and changing quantities of gaseous elements in the atmosphere, the Explosion may not be considered a result of the melting of the earth’s ice. Therefore, the Cambrian Explosion may be regarded as a natural biological event that demonstrates the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium.

The Ambulocetus is a transitional whale fossil that depicted the later stages of whale evolution.

This fossil was discovered in 1992 in the same sediments as the Pakicetus (a fossil depicting the previous stage of whale evolution), though it was discovered 120 metres higher in the sediments. It showed signs of greater commitment to an aquatic lifestyle, though it still retained functional legs and a bone structure that permitted terrestrial locomotion. The nature of its locomotion was determined by the large femurs it possessed; however, the femurs did not have large attachment points for muscles the Ambulocetus would have had a limited walking ability. It had paddle shaped feet, likely to have been used for propulsion in water, and a muscular tail. What distinguished the Ambuloceutus from its predecessor, the Pakicetus, was its more aquatic skull: a long muzzle, reduced cheek bones and teeth similar to other primitive whales. This evolutionary development showed the Ambulocetus adapting to its environment; displaying its transitional nature as a half cetacean, half

terrestrian.

The Homo Rhodesiensis is an extinct hominin species that lived in the Pleistocene epoch, between 400,000 and 120,000 years ago. The first Homo Rhodesiensis specimen, the Broken Hill skull, was discovered in 1921 in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Found alongside the cranium were an upper jaw (part of a different skeleton), tibia, two femur fragments and a sacrum (a pelvic bone). Analysis of the skull has shown it to have the largest brow of any known hominin. The specimen has been described as having facial features reminiscent of the Homo Neanderthalensis – a large nose and protruding brow ridges. The Rhodesian man seems to have had a large cranial capacity at around 1,230cm2. It is likely that the Rhodesian man was the ancestor of the Homo Sapiens Idaltu, an extinct subspecies of Homo Sapiens that is commonly regarded as the earliest known remains of modern humans.

The Homo Erectus is an extinct hominin species that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. It is said to have lived between 1.7 million years and 200,000 years ago. At discovery sites of Homo Erectus fossils in Europe, Asia and Africa, many bone and stone tools have been found. The Homo Erectus is said to have walked bipedally. It had a small cranial capacity, rececded forehead and a wide nose and jaw. Compared to modern humans, the brain was of smaller size and the teeth were larger. A group of later specimens discovered show features of the Homo Erectus but bear some resemblance to early Homo Sapiens.