Evolution: Best Example of Macroevolution: Manatees

I present a group of features of manatees, and a couple of fossils, that together make manatee origins probably one of the best single examples of macroevolution known.

References for the images I used did not show up well in the video, so someone requested I add them here.

Toenails on Flippers:
http://www.locolobo.org/SirenianEvolution.html

Tetrapod Limb Skeleton in Flipper:
http://www.theoceanadventure.com/FMIE/media/skeleton.jpg

Rudimentary Pelvic Bone, Vestigial Hip Sockets, & Characteristic Features of Modern Manatees
David M. Kingsley, Ph.D., Lecture 3: Fossils, Genes, and Embryos" from the free DVD Evolution: Constant Change and Common Threads, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2006

Fossil with 4 Legs and Full-Size Hindlimbs
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/images/legged_seacow.jpg

Fossil with 4 Legs, but Reduced-Size Hindlimbs
http://www.locolobo.org/SirenSkels.jpg

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• DNAunion
• Rick
• Pierson
• manatees
• evolution
• macroevolution
• sirenian
• vestigial
• intelligent
• design
• creationism

[DNAunion]

No, I am not claiming manatees evolved into humans.

Homology - such as the flipper skeleton of manatees and the forelimb and hand skeletons of humans, and other terrestrial tetrapods - is due to sharing a common ancester. Trace human and manatee evolutionary lineages back far enough and you will come to a common ancestor that had a stylopod, zeugopod, and autopod. That basic arrangement has been modified over time as it was adapted for different functions.

[DNAunion]

@robertfusion

"So you believe that manatees are a type of elephant "

No, I don't.

And I neither claimed nor implied that.

But thanks for showing everyone that all you people can do is stuf words into your opponents' mouths and knock down strawmen.

[DNAunion]

@mejc2

There are natural mechanisms that can add genetic information to genomes, two of which are gene duplication followed by divergence and exon shuffling.

Do you acknowledge this fact or not?

[Churinai]

@DNAunion Eg tail bone in humans, hip bones way off by themselves in whales etc. No Darwinian advantage to completely losing them, hence it never happened.

[iz2sicc]

@modernrocks Thank you for hurting my brain. Now I'm going to have a migraine all day.

[DoubterApe]

The dislikes on this video really scares me.

[davcar23]

Excelent video. One question, what conditions caused the manatees to loose their hind limbs and almost their toe nails? Thanks for the video.

[modernrocks]

Are you claiming manatees evolved over millions of years into men? the reason i ask is you pointed out the bones in the flippers.

[DNAunion]

@circusOFprecision

And my question is ... the one I asked in the video, and the one I just asked you again.

What is your better explanation than MACROevolution for the biological "oddities" we find in manatees?

PS: And such biological "oddities" are not limited to just manatees: there are several in birds, in humans, and in whales too, for example.

[circusOFprecision]

@DNAunion

I did watch the video, and the evidence is fairly compelling that there is a link. But my question is how did this occur, if it indeed was common ancestry? Was it just the accumulation of the right mutations, natural selection sifting out the bad ones? It just doesn't seem mathematically or scientifically possible.

[DNAunion]

@circusOFprecision

I guess you didn't bother to watch the video. I ask for a better explanatin than MACROevolution for the biological "oddities" in manatees. 

So where's your better explanation? Feel free to try to offer one.

[circusOFprecision]

@DNAunion

Maybe they need hipsockets. But now you are speculating, which seems a bit ironic, don't you think? Where do the genes come from? How about genetic expression itself? Perhaps evolution did occur to some degree. Organisms adapted to different environments, they chose to behave certain ways within groups, they struggled and learned. But is that the whole story? Selection, mutation, replication? No design what so ever? No mental processes behind nature? Materialism, chance, necessity?